A Prospective Study of First-Incidence Depression

Abstract

The present study is based on the so-called 1957 Lundby cohort, a geographically defined normal Swedish population of 2612 individuals who were evaluated for mental disorders in 1957 and 1972. The annual age-standardised first incidence of depression, with or without other psychiatric symptoms, all degrees of impairment included, was found to be 4.3 per 1000 person years in men and 7.6 per 1000 person years in women. Up until 70 years of age, the cumulative probability of suffering a first episode of depression was 27% in men and 45% in women.