Prevalence of depression and anxiety in colombia: what happened during covid-19 pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the well-being of millions of people around the globe. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health of the population was affected, which means that governments would need to implement different actions to mitigate and treat mental health disorders result of the pandemic. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of anxiety and depression for female and male adolescents and adults in Colombia before the COVID-19 pandemic. It also aimed to estimate the potential increase of the prevalence in each group as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. We used the Individual Registry of Health Services Delivery data from 2015 - 2021 to estimate the observed prevalence of anxiety and depression. Using the National Mental Health Survey 2015, we simulated the expected prevalence of anxiety and depression for adolescents (12 to 17 years) and adults (18 or older) from 2016 to 2020. We used an arithmetic static Monte Carlo simulation process to estimate the expected prevalence. The results of the analysis using revealed an important increase in the observed prevalence of these disorders for adults and adolescents and men and women between 2015 and February 2020. When we simulated different scenarios using the National Mental Health Survey and estimated the prevalence of both depression and anxiety for adults and adolescents, we found that the prevalence of depression and anxiety has had an important increase in the last five years for all groups and had an important increase during the 2020. This increase has been greater for women than for men, and for adolescents than adults. Our results show the number of people who need potential attention from the health system in Colombia and highlight the importance to think about how to avoid and detect potential cases of anxiety and depression especially in female adolescents. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement The study was funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) [109582]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee at Universidad de Los Andes (Acta No.1394 – 2017). I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes The data underlying the results presented in the study are available from the National Mental Health Survey 2015 (http://www.odc.gov.co/Portals/1/publicaciones/pdf/consumo/estudios/nacionales/CO031102015-salud\_mental\_tomoI.pdf) and the Individual Registry of Health Services Delivery [http://www.odc.gov.co/Portals/1/publicaciones/pdf/consumo/estudios/nacionales/CO031102015-salud\_mental\_tomoI.pdf][1] [1]: http://www.odc.gov.co/Portals/1/publicaciones/pdf/consumo/estudios/nacionales/CO031102015-salud_mental_tomoI.pdf