Publication type
Journal Article
Authors
Publication date
August 9, 2022
Summary:
Background: Previously improving UK mortality trends stalled around 2012 due to economic policy changes. This paper examines whether trends in psychological distress across three population surveys show similar trends.
Methods: We report the percentages reporting psychological distress (4+ in the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12)) from Understanding Society (Great Britain, 1991-2019), Scottish Health Survey (SHeS, 1995-2019) and Health Survey for England (HSE, 2003-2018) for the population overall, and stratified by sex, age and area deprivation. Summary inequality indices were calculated and segmented regressions fitted to identify turning points after 2010.
Results: Psychological distress was higher in Understanding Society than in the SHeS or HSE. There was a slight improvement between 1992 and 2015 in Understanding Society (with prevalence declining from 20.6% to 18.6%) with some fluctuations. After 2015 there is some evidence of an overall deterioration in psychological distress across surveys. Prevalence worsened notably among those aged 16-34 years after 2010 (all three surveys), and aged 35-64 years in Understanding Society and SHeS after 2015. In contrast, the prevalence declined in those aged 65+ years in Understanding Society after around 2008, with less clear trends in the other surveys. The prevalence was around twice as high in the most deprived compared to the least deprived areas, and higher in women, with trends by deprivation and sex similar to the populations overall.
Conclusion: Psychological distress worsened amongst working-age adults after around 2015 across British population surveys, mirroring the mortality trends. This indicates a widespread health crisis that pre-dates the COVID-19 pandemic.
Published in
medRxiv
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.08.22278544
Subjects
Notes
Open Access
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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