Cross-sectional survey of users of Internet depression communities

BMC Psychiatry

Table 1 Characteristics of respondents by country of web community.

	UK*	SE*	DK*	NO*	DE*	AT*	Total	Chi-square†
Number	529	453	382	291	330	52	2037
Percent men (n)	29 (153)	26 (120)	27 (102)	31 (90)	37 (123)	27 (14)	30 (602)	p = 0.02
Percent by age group (n)
% <26 years (n)	29 (151)	29 (133)	17 (64)	40 (117)	23 (75)	25 (13)	27 (553)
% 26–35 years (n)	33 (172)	35 (160)	36 (138)	33 (96)	30 (98)	27 (14)	33 (678)
% 36–45 years (n)	22 (118)	22 (100)	25 (94)	19 (54)	25 (84)	29 (15)	23 (465)
% >46 years (n)	17 (88)	13 (60)	23 (86)	8 (24)	22 (73)	19 (10)	17 (341)	p < 0.001
% meeting criteria for major depression (n)	64 (339)	57 (257)	40 (153)	42 (121)	48 (158)	50 (26)	52 (1054)	p < 0.001

* UK = United Kingdom, SE = Sweden, DK = Denmark, NO = Norway, DE = Germany, AT = Austria. † Chi square test for heterogeneity between countries. Country – country comparisons: Differences in sex distribution (proportion of women) (Chi square test): SE>DE (p < 0.001); DK > DE (p < 0.01); UK > DE (p < 0.05). Differences in age distribution (rank sum test on 5 year age bands): UK-DK, UK-NO, UK-DE, SE-DK, SE-DE, DK-NO, NO-DE (p < 0.001); SE-NO, NO-AT (p < 0.01). Proportion depressed (Chi square test): UK > DK, UK > NO, UK > DE, SE > DK, SE > NO (p < 0.001); UK > SE, UK > AT, SE > DE, DE > DK (p < 0.05).

ISSN: 1471-244X