One of the adverse events associated with the Covid pandemic has been the increase in depression, with prevalence doubling at its peak.
Before the Sars-CoV-2 virus arrived in the UK, between July 2019 and March 2020, around 10 per cent of the population experienced depression to some degree. However, by February 2021 the level had increased to 21 per cent. Even by summer 2021, levels were still higher than the pre-pandemic period, at around 17 per cent in July-August 2021.1
The data comes from the Office of National Statistics’ Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN). In tracking the impact of the Covid pandemic, it has analysed responses from 13,774 adults using a validated patient health questionnaire.
The ONS points out that the cause of the changes in prevalence levels are complex and cannot be determined easily. However, possible reasons “may include the impact of restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic and seasonal variation in levels of depressive symptoms, as well as other factors”.
Among people with depression, “74 per cent reported that the coronavirus pandemic was affecting their well-being; this compared with around one in three (32 per cent) adults with no or mild depressive symptoms”. Another notable impact was access to healthcare and treatment for non-coronavirus related issues being affected, cited by 40 per cent.

In the summer of 2021…
ONS data shows overall depression prevalence in Great Britain was 17 per cent between July 21 and August 15, 2021, but levels varied depending on the demographic group:1
·       31 per cent of women aged 16-29 were indicating depressive symptoms compared to 20 per cent of men of the same age, or just 9 per cent of adults aged 70 years and over
·       36 per cent of disabled people compared to 8 per cent of the non-disabled
·       28 per cent of clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) adults compared to 16 per cent of non-CEV adults
·       31 per cent of unemployed people compared to 15 per cent of employed or self-employed people
·       24 per cent of adults living in the most deprived parts of England compared to 12 per cent of adults in the least deprived areas.