Factors Influencing Risk of Premature Mortality in Community Cases of Depression: A Meta-Analytic Review

Table 1

Pooled relative risk of excess all-cause mortality in community cases of depressive disorders.

	Studies^#	Depressive disorder (deaths/Total)	No depressive disorder (deaths/Total)	RR	95% CI	𝐼^2∗
Overall	21	1,167/6,687	11,650/151,721	1.67	1.48–1.90	69.10%
Gender^#
Males and females	16	982/5,620	9,291/90,765	1.66	1.42–1.94	75.10%
Males	5	82/377	1,263/28,669	1.78	1.27–2.51	61.60%
Females	5	103/690	1,096/32,287	1.63	1.32–2.02	14.10%
Disorder type^#
Major depression	12	345/2,284	5,986/79,615	1.92	1.65–2.23	38.20%
Unspecified depressive disorders	8	738/4,183	4,277/67,797	1.46	1.22–1.76	70.00%
Dysthymic disorder	2	84/220	1,387/4,309	1.37	0.93–2.00	76.60%
Age range
Adults (all ages)	8	479/4,411	6,656/130,033	1.85	1.46–2.35	73.10%
Older adults (60+)	13	688/2,276	4,994/21,688	1.59	1.37–1.83	60.50%
Follow–up period
Less than 5 years	13	651/5,631	6,651/134,016	1.91	1.70–2.14	15.90%
5 years or more	8	516/1,326	5,089/17,705	1.41	1.23–1.62	55.30%
Adjustment factors
Unadjusted	10	462/1,151	5,115/17,996	1.59	1.25–2.01	57.50%
Age and/or sex	6	509/3,913	4,768/74,453	1.85	1.60–2.15	28.90%
Age and/or sex and other factors	5	196/1,623	1,767/59,272	1.77	1.32–2.38	61.70%

RR: relative risk; CI: confidence intervals.
* 𝐼² represents as a percentage of the variation attributable to heterogeneity between studies.
^#number of studies do not add up to 21 as 5 studies reported estimates for males and females, and 1 study reported estimates for both major depression and dysthymia.