Business Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-16-2025
Publication Title
BMJ Open
Disciplines
Business
Abstract
Objectives To investigate the occurrence of depression and mental health disorders other than depression among Brazilian people with intellectual disabilities, analysing data from a national household survey.
Design Cross-sectional epidemiological study using data from the 2019 National Health Survey (PNS).
Setting Brazil, nationwide data collection in urban and rural private households.
Participants 272 499 individuals, among whom 1.2% (n=3198) reported intellectual disabilities.
Primary outcome measures Self-reported depression and mental health disorders other than depression (anxiety, panic, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychosis or obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD)), either isolated or comorbid.
Results Among people with intellectual disabilities, 43.2% reported at least one mental health disorder versus 13.7% without disabilities. In adults aged 0–59 years, intellectual disability was associated with higher odds of depression (adjusted OR (aOR) 3.25, 95% CI 1.76 to 6.00), mental health disorders other than depression (aOR 12.23, 95% CI 7.52 to 19.90) and depression associated with other mental health disorders (aOR 14.34, 95% CI 7.92 to 25.96). In older adults (≥60 years), risks also remained elevated: depression (aOR 1.71, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.79), mental health disorders other than depression (aOR 4.33, 95% CI 2.09 to 8.94) and depression associated with other mental health disorders (aOR 2.98, 95% CI 1.49 to 5.95). Women with intellectual disabilities were more likely to report depression and multimorbidity, while men more often reported non-depressive disorders. Poorer self-perceived health was consistently linked to worse outcomes across age groups.
Conclusions Mental health disorders and their comorbidities are significantly more prevalent among people with intellectual disabilities in Brazil. These findings highlight the urgent need for inclusive, equitable and specialised mental healthcare policies.
Recommended Citation
Wagner GA, Gerum PCL, Martins LF, et alPrevalence and predictors of depression and other mental health disorders in Brazilian adults with intellectual disabilities: a population-based secondary analysisBMJ Open 2025;15:e104089. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-104089
DOI
10.1136/bmjopen-2025-104089
Version
Publisher's PDF
Publisher's Statement
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Volume
15
