Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication

Used in 2 entries

For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.

1. [1] Anxiety disorder Risk

   Statistic

   Lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders: 28.8%; any disorder 46.4%; median age of onset much earlier for anxiety (11 years) than for substance use (20) or mood (30) disorders

   “"anxiety disorders, 28.8%... any disorder, 46.4%... Median age of onset is much earlier for anxiety (11 years) and impulse-control (11 years) disorders than for substance use (20 years) and mood (30 years) disorders."”

   Calculation notes

   The flagship NCS-R lifetime-prevalence paper, based on 9,282 English-speaking US respondents aged 18+ interviewed 2001-2003 with structured DSM-IV diagnostic instruments. The 28.8% anxiety-disorders-class figure sets the lower edge of the uncertainty band. The verbatim "anxiety (11 years)" median age of onset establishes that anxiety disorders have the earliest median onset of any major disorder class — framed in prose, not as a fold-change multiplier.
   

   Independence note: Same NCS-R data source as the NIMH page above. Cited explicitly to document the real 28.8-vs-31.1 spread within the same survey (subsetting and estimation differences), not as an independent cross-validation. The third source (Bandelow & Michaelis) provides the genuinely independent cross-national check.

   Source date: 2005-06-01 · Accessed: 2026-06-21

2. [2] Untreated depression Risk

   Statistic

   Lifetime prevalence of major depressive disorder among US adults: 16.6% (95% CI: 15.4–17.9%)

   “[Paraphrase from abstract — full text paywalled] The National Comorbidity Survey Replication found a lifetime prevalence of major depressive disorder of 16.6% (95% CI: 15.4–17.9%) among US adults, based on structured diagnostic interview of a nationally representative sample using DSM-IV criteria. This is the primary epidemiological benchmark for lifetime MDD risk in the United States.”

   Calculation notes

   The 16.6% lifetime MDD prevalence is the multiplier used in the normalized calculation: 16.6% × ~50% (fraction of lifetime MDD cases with at least one untreated year) = 8.3%, rounded to 8% for normalized.lifetime_us_adult. This source is the NCS-R companion paper to Wang et al. 2005 (PMID 15939838); both use the same nationally representative sample. The NIMH MDD statistics page reports only past-year prevalence (8.3% in 2021) and does not publish lifetime prevalence directly; the NCS-R figure is the standard citation.
   

   Source date: 2005-06-01 · Accessed: 2026-05-04

Also cited in these entries

HealthDirect

Anxiety disorder

What are the odds of developing an anxiety disorder in your lifetime?

1 in 3.2 lifetime(31%)

HealthDirect

Untreated depression

What fraction of US adults who develop major depression or an anxiety disorder receive no mental health treatment for at least a year?

1 in 13 lifetime(8.0%)