Depression, chronic diseases, and decrements in health: results from the World Health Surveys.

The article discusses the results from the World Health Organization's World Health Surveys, which focused on depression, chronic diseases, and decrements in health. The article presents overviews of the surveys' background, methods, findings, and interpretation. The surveys found that depression produces the greatest decrement in health compared with chronic diseases angina, arthritis, asthma, and diabetes. It was also found that the comorbid state of depression incrementally worsens health compared with depression alone, with any of the chronic disease alone, and with any combination of chronic diseases without depression.