International mental health disparity: the correlation between national development level and burden of mental disorders

Abstract

Abstract Background Mental illness had been a worldwide concern. Global Mental Health (GMH) had become a movement to fight for Global health inequality. In low-income country, mental health infrastructure and services are not provided equitably to people with mental disorders. Methods We used the data of global burden of 204countries from 1990 to 2019 in Global Burden of Disease database. The Years Lived with Disability (YLDs) due to mental disorders was treated as an indicator of national mental health. By using the GBD Results Tool toolkit provided by the Institute of Health Measurement and Evaluation, we retrieved and visualized the data in global burden of disease data. In addition, we used correlation analysis to analyze the correlation between the burden of mental illness and the level of national development. Results It is found that, mental health had been a global issue which showing a gradual upward trend. There is a significant positive and moderate correlation between national development and the burden of mental disorder. The better the national development, the higher the YLDs Rate caused by mental disorders. The burden of mental illness in low-income countries is not high, but the rate of increase is relatively fast, while the burden of mental illness in low- and middle-income countries is relatively high, but the rate of decrease is apparent. Conclusions Although there is a positive correlation between the national development level and the national burden of mental illness, the study found that the burden of mental disorders (as measured by YLD’s) in developed countries was high and declining, compared to developing countries where the burden was lower but growing. It is high time to notice that mental health had been a global issue. Global mental health movement should be done to narrow the gap between different countries, especially in developing countries.