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Advanced Neurology Depression and its risk factors in India

Figure 2. Prevalence of depression adjusted for gender and age

freedoms, early marriage practices, domestic violence, and as hopelessness, lack of concentration, insomnia, fatigue,
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inadequate family support. These factors can significantly a loss of pleasure, appetite changes, and suicidal thoughts,
influence the prevalence of depression, especially in which persist for most of the day for at least 2 weeks
developing and/or low-income countries such as India. (Figure 1) (Depression- WHO). The main cause for the
increased risk of depression in recent years is stress, which
2. Materials and methods can include occupational, physical, family, or relationship,

An unstructured literature review was conducted to survey and educational stress (Figure 1). Mental health represents
research articles across electronic databases, namely, Google a significant concern in emerging and developing nations
Scholar, PubMed, Springer, and Elsevier. Various keywords were and is influenced by various context-specific factors
employed, including “genetic association,” “serum association,” including economic status, educational infrastructure,
“epigenetics,” “cultural impacts on depression,” “gender gaps,” access to proper nutrition, and overall developmental
“societal outlooks,” “traditional viewpoints,” “the stigma initiatives. India serves as a pertinent case study for such
surrounding mental health,” “cultural standards,” “gender concerns, given its substantial population (1,380,004,385),
expectations,” “cultural variations,” “customary behaviors,” and which positions it as the second most populous country
“depression prevalence in the Indian population.” after China (1,439,323,776) (Worldometer).
The selection process employed linguistic filters to 3.1. Prevalence of depression in India
focus on articles published in English. Primary research The 2019 Global Burden of Disease study highlights
articles were prioritized, and secondary sources such as specific Indian states facing higher rates of depression.
meta-analyses and systematic reviews were excluded. In Tamil Nadu, for instance, recorded the highest prevalence
addition, studies with incomplete or partially accessible at 4.45%, followed by Haryana at 3.7%, Andhra Pradesh
data were omitted to ensure integrity. Extensive measures at 3.53%, and Maharashtra at 3.48% (Institute for Health
were taken to eliminate any undesirable traits (e.g. Metrics and Evaluation | (healthdata.org). This regional
incomplete or missing data, studies that are not in English, variation emphasizes the need for a nuanced understanding
poor methodological quality, inconsistencies, errors, of depression that is tailored to India’s diverse sociocultural
duplicate or redundant data, unverified or non-peer- context.
reviewed sources, and non-generalizable findings in the
included data. The study surveyed a substantial body of the 3.2. Tools for assessing depression in the Indian
recent literature, with data validity independently verified population
by the authors. Their collective effort involved a thorough “Diagnostic questionnaires” for evaluating depression,
review of articles from multiple electronic databases, commonly known as “depression assessment
ensuring a comprehensive analysis of the topic. questionnaires,” are a primary tool for assessing depression
3. Results before clinical intervention. A critical review of the
literature revealed that research groups have used a variety
MDD, commonly called depression, is a complex of questionnaires, including the hamilton depression
neurological condition characterized by symptoms such rating scale (HAM-D), the diagnostic and statistical
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Volume 4 Issue 3 (2025) 31 doi: 10.36922/an.5940