ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Injury Prevention and Control
Anxiety and Depressive Disorders in Adolescent Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion: Frontier and Inequality Mapping across 953 Locations
- MY
Minglu Yuan 1
- XL
Xuezhi Liang 1
- WJ
Wenyi Jin 2,3
- MZ
Meng Zheng 1
- SF
Shiyu Feng 1
- KC
Kai Chen 4,5
- JZ
Jianli Zhao 5
- SL
Shunrong Li 5
- LZ
Liling Zhu 5
- LT
Luyuan Tan 5
- YZ
Yinduo Zeng 4
- TS
Tongrui Shang 5
- YY
Yanfang Ye 4
- GC
Guangyao Cai 6
- YC
Yuanyuan Chen 6
- YW
Ying Wang 6
- YL
Yutong Lu 7
- DW
Dong Wang 7
- YW
Yuanyuan Wan 7
- NW
Ningning Wu 7
- CL
Ciqing Lin 8,9
- WP
Wei Pan 10,11
- JZ
JingXuan Zhou 12
- YZ
You Zeng 13
- LS
Lukasz Szarpak 14,15,16,17
- PN
Prof. Nadia M Hamdy 18
- YZ
You Zuo 4
- CC
Claire Chenwen Zhong 19
- QL
Queran Lin 5,20
- XH
Xiaoliang Huang 21
- WC
Wen Chen 22
1. Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
2. Wuhan University Renmin Hospital Department of Orthopedics, Wuhan, China
3. The University of Hong Kong School of Biomedical Sciences, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
4. Sun Yat-Sen University Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Guangzhou, China
5. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Guangzhou, China
6. Sun Yat-sen University State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou, China
7. National Supercomputer Centre in Guangzhou, Guangzhou, China
8. The University of Melbourne School of Computing and Information Systems, Carlton, Australia
9. Nanyang Technological University School of Computer Science and Engineering, Singapore, Singapore
10. Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
11. University College London Department of Information Studies, London, United Kingdom
12. Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, China
13. Guangzhou Baiyun District Maternal and Child Health Hospital, guangzhou, China
14. LUX MED Sp z oo, Warsaw, Poland
15. Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawla II, Lublin, Poland
16. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
17. Bialostockie Centrum Onkologii im M Sklodowskiej-Curie w Bialymstoku, Białystok, Poland
18. Ain Shams University Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo, Egypt
19. The Chinese University of Hong Kong The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
20. WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health, London, United Kingdom
21. Health Commission of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou, China
22. Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
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Abstract
Purpose: Anxiety and depressive disorders constitute major contributors to global mental health burdens, disproportionately affecting 10-24-year-olds during critical neurodevelopmental windows. Despite their substantial disease burden, persistent treatment gaps and inequitable resource allocation remain worldwide. This study aims to systematically examine the evolving disease burden, inequalities, and achievable frontiers for anxiety and depressive disorders among 10-24 years from 1990 to 2021, providing critical epidemiological evidence to inform integrated adolescent mental health and injury prevention strategies. Methods: Employed the data from the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2021, this study analysed anxiety and depressive indicators across 953 locations at global, regional, national, and subnational levels, with stratification by sociodemographic index (SDI) quintiles to examine socioeconomic inequalities and identify potentially achievable frontiers. Data analysis occurred from August 2024 to January 2025. Results: Key findings reveal a marginal increase in incidence rates over three decades, driven by a marked surge during the pandemic. Significant inter-regional disparities emerged, with high SDI regions such as Western Europe and High-income North America bearing disproportionately greater burdens. Notably, while some countries like Pakistan and Nigeria demonstrated relatively low burdens, subnational analyses uncovered accelerated disease trajectories and persistent health inequities, underscoring emerging challenges in resource-constrained settings. Among the top 100 affected subnational locations in 2021, Iran (31%), Brazil (27%), and Italy (19%) recorded the highest anxiety DALY rates, while the United States of America (51%), the United Kingdom (25%), and Iran (19%) dominated depressive DALYs.
Summary
Keywords
Anxiety disoders, child and adolescent, Depressive Disorder, health inequality, injury prevention, self-harm
Received
23 June 2026
Accepted
07 July 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Yuan, Liang, Jin, Zheng, Feng, Chen, Zhao, Li, Zhu, Tan, Zeng, Shang, Ye, Cai, Chen, Wang, Lu, Wang, Wan, Wu, Lin, Pan, Zhou, Zeng, Szarpak, Hamdy, Zuo, Zhong, Lin, Huang and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Queran Lin; Xiaoliang Huang; Wen Chen
Disclaimer
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