THE PREVALENCE AND BURDEN OF MENTAL AND SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS IN ROMANIA: FINDINGS FROM THE GLOBAL BURDEN OF DISEASE STUDY 2016

AIMS: National mental health policies must be grounded in accurate assessments of diseases. In the current article we used the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 to examine burden due to mental and substance use disorders in Romania. METHODS: For each mental and substance use disorder included in the GBD 2016 we reported the yearly estimates for YLL (as a measure for non-fatal burden), YLD (fatal burden) and DALY (summing years lived with disability and years of life lost to give a measure of total burden). RESULTS: Mental and substance use disorders were the third leading cause of non-fatal burden in Romania in 2016, explaining 13.53% of total years lived with disability, the ninth leading cause for fatal burden explaining 0.84% of total years of life lost, and were the fifth leading cause of total burden, accounting for 5.52% of total disability-adjusted life years. Among MSDs, depression, anxiety and alcohol use disorders have the highest rate. Starting 1997 there has been a slow decrease of age-standardized disability-adjusted life year rates, with no significant change in the last 5 years. CONCLUSION: Global Burden of Disease Study 2016 found that mental and substance use disorders were the fifth leading contributors to disease burden in Romania, with anxiety and depressive being the most prevalent. Despite national programs and strategies in the area of mental health initiated especially after 1990, the mental health system does not fully meet the needs of the patients. Effective population-level strategic measures are still required in order to reduce the burden of disease.