2024-01-31 23:00:00
SÃO PAULO, SP (FOLHAPRESS) – Mental disorders today represent the main cause of years of healthy life lost by children, adolescents and young people, shows an international study that used data from 156 countries, including Brazil.
Published this Wednesday (31) in the journal Jama Psychiatry, the work led by a researcher from UFRGS (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul) shows that 11.63% of people between 5 and 24 years old (293 million) have at least a mental disorder.
The study used the international database GBD (Global Burden of Disease), which brings together all published research, reports and data from ministries of health in different countries.
In the research, there is no separate data from Brazil (they will be published in another scientific work still in progress). But, according to researchers, the prevalence is similar. It is estimated that 10 million young Brazilians between the ages of 5 and 24 have at least one mental disorder.
In addition to prevalence, the study estimated the impact in terms of years lived with disability due to mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum, intellectual disability, schizophrenia, in addition to eating disorders, due to use of drugs and alcohol use.
This group represents the largest cause of years lived with disability among all health conditions in the studied group, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and unintentional injuries.
Considering the number of years lived with disability due to mental disorders throughout life, 25% occur in the period from 5 to 24 years. The three disorders with the greatest impact in each of the age groups studied were the following:
● Among children (5 to 9 years): anxiety disorders, conduct disorder and intellectual disability
● Among pre-adolescents (10 to 14 years): conduct disorder, anxiety disorders and depressive disorders
● Among adolescents (15 to 19 years old): depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and conduct disorder
● Among young adults (20 to 24 years): depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorders
“Mental disorders have their impact early in the life cycle and the disability generated at this early age can have a negative impact on the transition to adulthood”, says psychiatrist Christian Kieling, professor at UFRGS and leader of the study.
Among the conditions investigated, anxiety disorders had the highest prevalence (84 million, or 3.35% of the studied population), and schizophrenia, the lowest (2 million, or 0.08%).
Data shows an increase in mood disorders in early and late adolescence. The prevalence of anxiety is 1.32% between 5 and 9 years old; it increases to 3.35% between 10 and 14 years old and rises to 4.34% between 15 and 19 years old. Depression was 0.08%, 0.98%, 2.69% and 3.85% respectively.
The prevalence of diseases varies according to age group and gender. For example, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder is more common among boys and there is a peak between the ages of 10 and 14, with a decline at subsequent ages.
Depressive disorders affect girls more, with a constant increase throughout the entire period evaluated. “We have different groups of disorders presenting different patterns of emergence and impact on the lives of children and adolescents”, says the doctor.
Kieling reinforces the importance of recognizing the role of the various changes that occur at an accelerated pace during childhood and adolescence (for example, brain maturation, puberty, social demands and transition to the workforce).
According to him, the results suggest that prevention actions and mental health interventions need to start very early and it is essential that they recognize the peculiarities of each stage of young people’s lives.
“From an epidemiological standpoint, maybe it’s not as important to do a program that focuses on depression in young children. Or focusing on ADHD in late adolescence and early adulthood isn’t as relevant as doing it earlier.”
For him, it is important that health policies take into account the profile of each age group when organizing health services. “It is not possible to talk about a single prevalence. There are many prevalences that increase at each stage of development.”
According to the psychiatrist, the imaginary line of considering a person as an adult at 18 does not make sense in mental health. “Both from what we know about brain development and from the point of view of what we know about psychological and social issues.”
He says that he has seen situations of young people treated in mental health clinics focused on childhood and adolescence who, halfway through, turned 18 and had to start over in a service for adults.
“We have a fragmentation of services precisely during the period when there is the highest incidence of mental disorders. It doesn’t make any sense.”
In his opinion, despite all the advances made in the SUS and in primary care, young people and their mental health issues continue to be overlooked by public policies. “Primary care is very focused on physical illnesses, we don’t talk about mental health in proportion to what they already represent in the disease burden.”
In Australia, for example, primary care services include, in addition to physical health, care for mental health issues and vocational aspects. “It doesn’t just talk about health. It also talks about promotion, development, there are spaces focused on young people”, says the doctor.
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