To analyze the trends and characteristics of the number of patients, prevalence, incidence, disability-adjusted life years (DALY), and years lived with disability (YLD) of depressive disorders among the Chinese population from 1990 to 2021, with the hope of providing a theoretical basis for early prevention, intervention, and clinical decision-making regarding depressive disorders.

Depressive disorders data from the GBD 2021 database (Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 Data Resources) were extracted to analyze the number of patients, incidence, prevalence, DALY and YLD in the Chinese population. The software STATA 14.0 and Joinpoint Regression Program 4.8.0.1 were utilized to analyze the incidence, prevalence, DALY, and YLD of depressive disorders across different genders and age groups. Furthermore, the average annual percent change (AAPC) in depressive disorders was calculated.

In 2021, there were 42.3602 million new cases of depressive disorders in China, an increase of 38.9% from 30.4910 million in 1990. The number of patients was 53.1147 million, an increase of 54.0% from 34.4794 million in 1990. Both the standardized incidence and prevalence showed a slow downward trend (the AAPC was -0.57% and -0.44%, respectively, P<0.001). The incidence of depressive disorders in people aged 10 to 24 showed a sudden increase in different years, and the incidence of depressive disorders in people over 65 also showed an accelerating upward trend. The DALY in 1990 and 2021 were 5.4267 million and 7.8659 million person-years, respectively, with a cumulative increase of 44.9%. The DALY rate increased from 461.27 /100 000 to 552.87 /100 000, with an increase of 19.8%. The standardized DALY and YLD rates decreased slowly with each year (the AAPC was -0.53% and -0.53%, respectively, P<0.001).

Depressive disorder is still one of the main causes of global disease burden and a major public health issue facing our country. There is an urgent need to actively explore and implement effective prevention and treatment strategies to reduce the disease burden of depressive disorders.