The DOI matches its Crossref record; 49 of the 49 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Prevalence of Depression in a Large Urban South Indian Population — The Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (Cures – 70)
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: In India there are very few population based data on prevalence of depression. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of depression in an urban south Indian population. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Subjects were recruited from the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES), involving 26,001 subjects randomly recruited from 46 of the 155 corporation wards of Chennai (formerly Madras) city in South India. 25,455 subjects participated in this study (response rate 97.9%). Depression was assessed using a self-reported and previously validated instrument, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) - 12. Age adjustment was made according to the 2001 census of India. The overall prevalence of depression was 15.1% (age-adjusted, 15.9%) and was higher in females (females 16.3% vs. males 13.9%, p<0.0001). The odds ratio (OR) for depression in female subjects was 1.20 [Confidence Intervals (CI): 1.12-1.28, p<0.001] compared to male subjects. Depressed mood was the most common symptom (30.8%), followed by tiredness (30.0%) while more severe symptoms such as suicidal thoughts (12.4%) and speech and motor retardation (12.4%) were less common. There was an increasing trend in the prevalence of depression with age among both female (p<0.001) and male subjects (p<0.001). The prevalence of depression was higher in the low income group (19.3%) compared to the higher income group (5.9%, p<0.001). Prevalence of depression was also higher among divorced (26.5%) and widowed (20%) compared to currently married subjects (15.4%, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest population-based study from India to report on prevalence of depression and shows that among urban south Indians, the prevalence of depression was 15.1%. Age, female gender and lower socio-economic status are some of the factors associated with depression in this population.
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“The PHQ has previously been validated among South Asian populations and used in previous studies measuring the prevalence of depressive symptoms among various communities in India.15–19”
From Mental Health, Suicidality, Health, and Social Indicators Among College Students Across Nine States in India (2025) · cites this paper as [17]
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Sagar, R., Dandona, R., Gururaj, G., Dhaliwal, R. S., Singh, A., Ferrari, A., Dua, T., Ganguli, A., Varghese, M., Chakma, J. K., et al. (2020) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(19)30475-4 · Cited by 886
Non-communicable disease syndemics: poverty, depression, and diabetes among low-income populations
Mendenhall, E., Kohrt, B. A., Norris, S. A., Ndetei, D., & Prabhakaran, D. (2017) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(17)30402-6 · Cited by 556
Pilania, M., Yadav, V., Bairwa, M. L., Behera, P., Gupta, S. D., Khurana, H., Mohan, V., Baniya, G. C., & Poongothai, S. (2019) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-019-7136-z · Cited by 319
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An overview of Indian research in depression
Grover, S., Dutt, A., & Avasthi, A. (2010) · Indian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.4103/0019-5545.69231 · Cited by 177
Metadata
- Authors
- Poongothai, S., Pradeepa, R., Ganesan, A., & Mohan, V.
- Affiliations
- Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (IN)
- Corresponding author
- Mohan, Viswanathan
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2009-09-28
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- e7185
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2748692
- OpenAlex
- W2008310014
- Cited by
- 308
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 7.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Greater South Information System
- Funders
- Madras Diabetes Research Foundation
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology (medical) › Treatment of Major Depression
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Health and Well-being Studies
- Keywords
- depression prevalence, sex differences in depression, socioeconomic status, marital status, depressive symptoms
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Depression, Female, Humans, India, Male, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Regression Analysis, Rural Health, Rural Population, Social Class, Urban Health, Urban Population, Prevalence, Odds Ratio
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