Mental Health Changes in Tehran during 12 Years: Comparing National Health and Disease Survey (1999) and Urban HEART-2 Project (2011)

Objective: The main objective of this study was to compare changes in the mental health status of the residents of Tehran from 1999 till 2011. Materials and Methods: This study was an overview of two cross-sectional, descriptive researches that were performed in 1998 and 2011. Samples of these two studies were recruited by regular randomized cluster sampling. In both studies, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was used to assess mental health status of general population. Results: The results showed that 21.5% of participants in the 1998 survey suffered from mental disorders (27% women and 14.9% men). In 2011, this figure increased to 39.6% (37.4% of men and 43.1% of women). Prevalence of mental disorders increased from 1998 until 2011 by about 1.8 fold (1.6 fold for women and 2.5 fold for men). In both studies, the risk of mental disorders increased with increasing age, unemployment, illiteracy and divorced or widowed individual. Anxiety symptoms were more prevalent in both studies as compared to somatization, depression, and social dysfunction scales. Conclusion: The dramatic increases of mental disorders during 12 years indicated that policy-makers should give greater importance to prevention and promotion of mental disorders for Tehran residents.