Background: Globally, depression is a silent epidemic, and more than 350 million people suffer from depression. For a long time, the belief prevailed that children and young people cannot suffer from depressive disorders, and depression is slowly becoming one of the leading health problems among the young population. Objective: The research aims to determine the mental health disorders burden attributed to depression with and without suicidal ideation among youth in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was performed as screening of depression by Hamilton standardized screening instrument from 3 May 2018 to April 4, 2019, among young people, students in secondary school, and the Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Faculty of the University of Tuzla, in the most-populous Tuzla Canton in The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The subject sample consisted of 1141 young people, in secondary schools, or Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine students with a mean age of 20,69 years (about 78% young women). In achieving the research goals, we expressed the burden attributed to depression with and without suicidality as Disability Weight (DW) and Years Lived with Disability (YLD). For the population level, YLD was calculated by multiplying DW by the prevalence rate of depression per thousand of the population (YLD= DW X PREVALENCE/1000), and DW was adjusted for suicidality. Results: The prevalence of depressiveness feeling among young people ages 19-21 is 47,10%. Very interesting is that there not found significant differences in the prevalence rate of suicidality between women and men (12,15% vs. 12,30%; P= 0.948). The highest YLD of depression (117,75, 95%CI, 106,32-128,01), and suicidality (98.05, 95%CI, 90,83-105,67) have been found in young people ages 19-21. YLD for mild depression (145,31, 95%CI,139,11-154,10) is the highest concern for the most severe form of depression (12,50, 95%CI, 11,46-13,99). Conclusion: Based on our findings, the very high burden of depression in Bosnia and Herzegovina was found greatly not recognized and unsolved problem among the young population aged 16-24 years. Recognizing and screening depression in young people is the first step to prevention.
Key words: disability of depression, suicidality
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