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Depression, which is increasing in prevalence, often is assumed to have less influence on overall health status than other chronic diseases. To examine this assumption, researchers asked 245,000 adults in 60 countries whether they had ever had symptoms of, been diagnosed with, or been treated for depression, asthma, arthritis, angina, or diabetes; participants were also asked to rate their health status. Health scores (range, 0–100) were derived from responses to the health status questions.
Prevalence of a single chronic physical condition ranged from 2% to 5%; 3% of respondents had depression alone. Among respondents with one chronic physical condition, the prevalence of comorbid depression ranged from 9% to 18%. Among the 7% of respondent…