Global, regional, and national burden and temporal trends of depressive disorders in women of child-bearing age, 1990 to 2021: A worldwide analysis

As a severe public health issue, depressive disorders (DD) have caused an increasing burden of disease. The global status of women's DD is underestimated, particularly the burden on women of child-bearing age (WCBA). We aim to investigate the pattern and trend of DD among WCBA from 1990 to 2021. We retrieved data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 on the incidence, prevalence, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2021. And we calculated the average annual percentage changes in age-standardized incidence rates, age-standardized prevalence rates, and DALYs rates, stratified by age and socio-demographic index (SDI), to quantify temporal trends. Additionally, a Bayesian age-period-cohort model was employed to project age-standardized rates up to 2030. Spearman correlation analysis was used to examine the correlation between age-standardized rates and SDI. In 2021, globally, the number of DALYs of DD among WCBA increased by 69% from 12.4 million to 21.0 million compared to 1990. The global burden of DD among WCBA has significantly increased from 1990 to 2021, with projections indicating continued growth. The average annual percentage changes from 1990 to 2021 for the age-standardized DALYs rates, age-standardized prevalence rates, and age-standardized incidence rates all demonstrated a highly significant positive correlation with SDI levels. Globally, the DALYs rate, incidence rate, and prevalence rate of DD increase with age. The rising global incidence of DD, coupled with regional variations in prevalence and DALYs, underscores the urgent need for innovative prevention and healthcare strategies to mitigate the burden among WCBA worldwide.