Prevalence of common mental disorders in general practice attendees across Europe.

Depression occurs in around 10% of general practice attendees. 1 Relapse often occurs 5–10 years after first presentation 2–4 and residual disability is common. 5 Anxiety disorders are also highly prevalent in primary care 6,7 and lead to increased use of health services and morbidity. 8 The estimated prevalence of generalised anxiety disorder is 5–16%, 7 and that of panic disorder varies between 1.5 and 13%. 9 Most people with anxiety or depression will visit their general practitioner, whether or not they complain of their psychological symptoms. 10 The PREDICT study took place in six European countries in order to develop a multifactor risk index to predict onset of depression in primary care attendees. 11 In this paper we report on differences in prevalence of common mental disorders between participating countries.