One-year recovery rates for young people with depression and/or anxiety not receiving treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Journal article

Objectives: To systematically review 1-year recovery rates for young people experiencing depression and/or anxiety who are not receiving any specific mental health treatment. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources: MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science and Global Health were searched for articles published from 1980 through to August 2022. Eligibility criteria: Articles were peer-reviewed, published in English and had baseline and 1-year follow-up depression and/or anxiety outcomes for young people aged 10–24 years without specific treatment. Data extraction and synthesis: Three reviewers extracted relevant data. Meta-analysis was conducted to calculate the proportion of individuals classified as recovered after 1 year. The quality of evidence was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results: Of the 17 250 references screened for inclusion, five articles with 1011 participants in total were included. Studies reported a 1-year recovery rate of between 47% and 64%. In the meta-analysis, the overall pooled proportion of recovered young people is 0.54 (0.45 to 0.63). Conclusions: The findings suggest that after 1 year about 54% of young people with symptoms of anxiety and/or depression recover without any specific mental health treatment. Future research should identify individual characteristics predicting recovery and explore resources and activities which may help young people recover from depression and/or anxiety

Authors: Roach, A; Sureshkumar, DS; Elliot, K; Hidalgo-Padilla, L; van Loggerenberg, F

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• Journal: BMJ Open
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 7
• Pages: e072093-e072093
• Publication date: 2023-07-21
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-072093
• EISSN: 2044-6055
• ISSN: 2044-6055
• Language: English
• Keywords: Gerontology; Clinical psychology; Psychiatry; PsycINFO; Medicine; Internal medicine; Meta-analysis; Depression (economics); Anxiety; Young adult; Mental health; MEDLINE