Introduction: Long-term use of benzodiazepines (BZD) triggers health problems. Although Spain leads European use of BZD, the number of long-term users (LTUs) remains unknown.
Objective: The aim of the study is to estimate the proportion of primary care (PC) patients who initiate a BDZ prescription that subsequently become LTU and to identify its associated factors.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol
April 2025
Purpose: The aim of this study is to (1) evaluate prevalences and concordance between workplace and non-workplace loneliness, (2) compare sociodemographic risk factors between workplace and non-workplace loneliness, (3) compare working conditions-related risk factors between the two contexts of loneliness, and (4) compare the impact of workplace and non-workplace loneliness on absenteeism, depression, anxiety and substance use disorder.
Methods: A sample of the employee residing in Spain (n = 5400) was surveyed using computer-assisted web interviews (CAWI) during August and September 2024. Logistic regression models were constructed to compare the effects of risk factors for workplace and non-workplace loneliness (including sociodemographic factors, and factors related to working conditions), as well as the association of workplace and non-workplace loneliness on absenteeism, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and substance use disorder.
Background: The World Health Organization recently revised the criteria for the diagnosis of depressive disorders in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). This most recent version of the classification (ICD-11) presents some notable differences from the previous one that may impact the prevalence rate.
Objective: This study aims to assess the impact of changes on the diagnosis of depressive episodes in the general population.
Background: In recent years, loneliness has been recognized as a public health problem, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to identify groups of people with different trajectories of loneliness, and to explore potential determinants (sociodemographic, social, psychological, and health-related) associated with these trajectories.
Methods: In this 12-year longitudinal study, we analyzed data on 4537 Spanish adults from a nationwide representative survey.
Background: Elevated night resting heart rate (HR) has been associated with increased depression severity, yet the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of sleep disturbance and the influence of anxiety on the relationship between night resting HR and depression severity.
Methods: This is a secondary data analysis of data collected in the Remote Assessment of Disease and Relapse (RADAR) Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) longitudinal mobile health study, encompassing 461 participants (1774 observations) across three national centers (Netherlands, Spain, and the UK).
Introduction: This paper aims to analyse depression incidence and recurrence rates in a Spanish adult cohort, while also investigating associated risk factors based on depression status at baseline.
Methods: Longitudinal, prospective study data of the Edad con Salud cohort was used, which comprises a sample representative of the non-institutionalized adult populace at the national level with a final sample size of 2655 Spanish adults. Competing risk regression models were estimated to determine the main risk factors for incident and recurrent depression.
Background: Loneliness is related to worse mental health, particularly in people with poor social support. The COVID-19 pandemic altered our lives and ways of social interaction, especially among vulnerable populations such as older adults.
Methods: We designed a group-based psychosocial online intervention for older adults (≥ 65 years) facilitated by gerontologists addressing loneliness consisting of: (i) sharing experiences and promoting peer support to overcome feelings of loneliness and (ii) increasing the chances of establishing successful social relationships.
Background: Existing research has highlighted the positive association of material deprivation, loneliness, and poor social support with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, there is limited information on the complex interplay between these risk factors. In this study, we investigated (1) whether loneliness and social support moderate the relationship between material deprivation and MDD and (2) whether social support moderates the association between material deprivation and loneliness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Despite the availability of effective antidepressant strategies, numerous people with depressive disorders remain untreated. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected healthcare services, especially the mental health sector. This study aims to explore the coverage of depression treatments in the general Spanish population and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Our aim was to test risk factors for chronic and transient loneliness as well as cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of courses of loneliness with depression.
Methods: Responses from participants in Wave 5 (T1, 2013) and Wave 6 (T2, 2015) of The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (N = 45,490) were analyzed. The existence of clinically significant symptoms of depression was defined as reporting a value greater than or equal to 4 on the Euro-D scale.
Background: Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on health involves conducting longitudinal studies to evaluate the inequalities that may have been exacerbated by the pandemic. The purpose of this study was to estimate differences in physical and mental health derived from the COVID-19 pandemic, beyond SARS-CoV-2 infection, in the Spanish general population according to the participants' level of education; and to assess the evolution of these differences from June 2020 (just after the lockdown) to nine months later (February-March 2021).
Methods: This is a longitudinal prospective study of a representative sample of non-institutionalized Spanish adults, through computer-assisted telephone interviews.
Psychiatry Res
August 2023
Introduction: The present study aims to investigate the courses of loneliness following a national state of emergency including a curfew due to a rise in COVID-19 cases, associated risk factors, and the effect of loneliness on symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Methods: Data of 2,000 adults in Spain which were interviewed by telephone at the first follow-up of the MINDCOVID project (February-March 2021) and of whom 953 were interviewed nine months later (November-December 2021) were analyzed. Group-based trajectories and mixed models were constructed.
Background: Depression is a heterogeneous disease. Identification of latent depression subgroups and differential associations across these putative groups and sociodemographic and health-related factors might pave the way toward targeted treatment of individuals.
Methods: We used model-based clustering to identify relevant subgroups of 2900 individuals with moderate to severe depression (defined as scores ≥10 on the PHQ-9 instrument) from the NHANES cross-sectional survey.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
February 2023
Background: Research suggests that changes in social support and loneliness have affected mental disorder symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are a lack of studies comparing the robustness of these associations.
Aims: The aims were to estimate the strength of the associations of loneliness and social support with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022) in the general population.
Background: Data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic suggest an increase in major depressive disorder (MDD) among younger adults. The current study aims to assess the association of age groups and MDD risk before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and quantify the effect of potential mediating variables such as loneliness, social support, resilience, and socioeconomic factors.
Methods: A representative sample of Spanish adults was interviewed before (2019, N = 1880) and during (2020, N = 1103) the COVID-19 pandemic.
Psychosom Med
January 2023
Objective: Older adults may be at lower risk of common mental disorders than younger adults during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Previous research has shown shown differences by age in psychosocial well-being during the pandemic and have highlighted the moderating effect of prepandemic mental disorders on that association. In this line, we examined the association of age with self-reported symptoms of loneliness, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress, as well as potential roles of loneliness symptoms and prepandemic mental disorders on the association between age and mental disorder symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the CRENCO project which was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic including intergenerational activities shared by students from primary and secondary education and users of two centers for older adults and a day hospital in Catalonia. The effectiveness was assessed in terms of well-being in older adults and on negative stereotypes about the elderly in primary and secondary students.
Methods: Three interventions were carried out in which 32 older persons (9 users of centers for older adults and 23 of a day hospital), 99 primary students and 56 secondary students participated.
The COVID-19 outbreak, which was followed by home confinement, is expected to have had profound negative impact on the mental health of people. Associated factors, such as losing jobs and income, can be expected to lead to an increased risk of suffering from psychopathological problems. Therefore, this study was aimed at researching the associations of job and income loss with mental health, as well as the possible mediating role of perceived financial stress during the COVID-19 outbreak.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnn Gen Psychiatry
February 2022
Background: We assessed the moderating effect of pre-pandemic mental disorders on the association of COVID-related perceived stress and social support with mental health.
Methods: A nationally representative sample of 3500 Spanish adults was interviewed in June 2020 (mean age 49.25 years, ± 15.
Background: Previous research indicates that social support, loneliness, and major depressive disorder (MDD) are interrelated. Little is known about the potential pathways among these factors, in particular in the case of adults aged 50 years and older and suffering from MDD. The objective was to investigate whether loneliness mediates the association between low social support and recurrent episodes of MDD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Ment Health Addict
September 2021
Substance use disorder is on the rise; it has increased massively during the COVID-19 lockdown and has been found as a risk factor for depressive symptoms and major depressive disorder. Less is known about the hypothetical moderating effect of social support in that association. Three thousand five hundred Spanish adults were interviewed by phone during the COVID-19 lockdown (May-June 2020).
View Article and Find Full Text PDF