Finnish Psychotherapy Quality Register: rationale, development, and baseline results.

BACKGROUND: The push to systematically follow treatment outcomes in psychotherapies to improve health care is increasing worldwide. To manage psychotherapeutic services and facilitate tailoring of therapy according to feedback a comprehensive and feasible data system is needed. AIMS: To describe the Finnish Psychotherapy Quality Register (FPQR), a comprehensive database on availability, quality, and outcomes of psychotherapies. METHODS: We describe the development of the FPQR and outcome for outsourced psychotherapies for adults in Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district (HUS). Symptom severity and functioning are measured with validated measures (e.g. CORE-OM, PHQ-9, OASIS, AUDIT, and SOFAS). Questionnaires on therapeutic alliance, risks, methods, and goals are gathered from patients and psychotherapist. RESULTS: During 2018-2021, the FPQR included baseline data for 7274 unique patients and 336 psychotherapists. Response rate of measures was 85-98%. The use of the register was mandatory for the outsourced therapist of the hospital districts, and the patients were strongly recommended to fulfill the questionnaires. We report outcome for three groups of patients (n = 1844) with final/midterm data. The effect sizes for long psychotherapy (Hedge's g = 0.65 of SOFAS) were smaller than those for short psychotherapy (g = 0.75-0.91). Within three months of referral, 26-60% entered treatment depending on short- or long-term therapy. CONCLUSION: The FPQR forms a novel rich database with commensurate data on availability and outcomes of outsourced psychotherapies. It may serve as a basis for a national comprehensive follow-up system of psychosocial treatments. The Finnish system seems to refer patients with milder symptoms to more intensive treatments and achieve poorer results compared to the IAPT model in UK, Norway, or Australia.

The role of ethical analysis in conducting a health technology assessment of medical treatments for gender dysphoria.

OBJECTIVES: Treatment seeking for gender dysphoria (GD) has increased manifold in western countries. This has led to increased interest on evidence-base of treatments, but also discussions related to human rights, identity politics, gender-related structures, and medicalization. Combining these discourses into coherent health policy is difficult. Health technology assessment (HTA) is the golden standard for assessing whether a medical intervention should be included in a health system. A comprehensive HTA should include medical, safety, and cost-utility perspectives, but often also ethical, societal, organizational, and legal concerns. Still, ethics is often omitted in practice. This paper aims to demonstrate how integrated ethical analysis influenced a HTA of complex and controversial topics like GD. METHODS: A HTA of medical treatments of GD was conducted using integrated ethical analysis based on the EUnetHTA-model. This integrates ethical thinking into the whole HTA, explicitly analyses ethical topics, and balances arguments using several ethical theories. RESULTS: Integrating ethics had a significant impact on the HTA process and recommendations. It influenced how the HTA was planned and executed, emphasized autonomy and justice when creating the recommendations, and helped the workgroup to understand the complexity of combining different stakeholders' discourses. Tensions between scientific evidence, expectations, and values became explicit. CONCLUSIONS: Comprehensive HTA provides an important, integrative approach to considering complex and controversial topics in health systems. HTA emphasizes multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach but simultaneously forces a pragmatic, results-oriented, and evidence-based approach on all argumentation. Ethical analysis can facilitate interactions between stakeholders, bridge different discourses, and help formulate widely acceptable guidelines and policy decisions.

The Helsinki approach to face transplantation.

AIM: We herein describe the establishment of the Helsinki Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) program and its execution in the first two face transplant cases. METHODS & PATIENTS: The Helsinki VCA program initially required the fulfillment of legal, hospital, financial, and ethical requirements. Thereafter, the assembling of a multidisciplinary team commenced. A team of Plastic, maxillofacial and ENT surgeons comprise the facial VCA team. The protocol involves collaboration with the Solid Organ Transplant (SOT) team, transplant immunology, immunosuppression, microbiology, psychiatric evaluation, well-defined VCA indications and informed consent. Between 2011 and 2017 two patients were selected for transplantation. Both patients had a severe composite facial deformity involving the maxilla and mandible following earlier ballistic injury. RESULTS: Patient 1 was a 35 year-old male who underwent successful near total face transplantation in February 2016 and at 30 months he has a good aesthetic outcome with symmetrical restoration of the central face and good sensory and symmetrical motor functional outcomes. Patient 2 was a 58 year-old male who underwent full face transplantation in March 2018 and at 5 months he has recovered without major problems. CONCLUSION: A successful facial VCA program requires a well-prepared research protocol, experts from multiple specialties and careful patient selection. The establishment of the Helsinki VCA program required long and thorough planning and resulted in the first two Nordic face transplantation cases. This protocol now forms the platform (as a proof of concept) for other types of vascularized composite allotransplantations.

Identifying Local and Centralized Mental Health Services-The Development of a New Categorizing Variable.

The challenges of mental health and substance abuse services (MHS) require shifting of the balance of resources from institutional care to community care. In order to track progress, an instrument that can describe these attributes of MHS is needed. We created a coding variable in the European Service Mapping Schedule-Revised (ESMS-R) mapping tool using a modified Delphi panel that classified MHS into centralized, local services with gatekeeping and local services without gatekeeping. For feasibility and validity, we tested the variable on a dataset comprising MHS in Southern Finland, covering a population of 2.3 million people. There were differences in the characteristics of services between our study regions. In our data, 41% were classified as centralized, 37% as local without gatekeeping and 22% as local services with gatekeeping. The proportion of resources allocated to local services varied from 20% to 43%. Reclassifying ESMS-R is an easy way to compare the important local vs. centralized balance of MHS systems globally, where such data exists. Further international studies comparing systems and validating this approach are needed.

Associations of psychotic-like or manic-like experiences with later psychiatric disorders: An 11-year follow-up study of middle-aged adults.

Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) and manic-like experiences (MLEs) have been found to be associated with elevated risk for future psychotic disorders. However, most follow-up studies have been conducted on adolescent and young adult samples leaving the predictive value of PLEs and MLEs among middle-aged subjects largely unknown. Here we report findings of an 11-year follow-up study of middle-aged subjects with PLEs (n=86) or MLEs (n=45) at baseline and population controls (n=62). We found that PLEs or MLEs at baseline did not predict conversion to psychosis during an 11-year follow-up in this age group. However, MLEs at baseline were associated with increased risk of nonpsychotic psychiatric disorders at follow-up whereas PLEs were not. Baseline neuropsychological performance was not associated with later psychiatric disorders in groups with PLEs or MLEs. In conclusion, our results suggest that among middle-aged subjects having PLEs or MLEs may not be a similar risk for future psychotic disorders as in younger age groups. However, studies with larger study groups and longer follow-up periods are needed in the future.

Outcome of depressive and anxiety disorders among young adults: Results from the Longitudinal Finnish Health 2011 Study.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: We investigated the outcomes and outcome predictors of depressive and anxiety disorders in a general population sample of young adults with a lifetime history of these disorders. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study sample was derived from a nationally representative two-stage cluster sample of Finns aged 19-34 years. The original study was carried out in 2003-2005, and the follow-up in 2011. We investigated participants diagnosed with a depressive or anxiety disorder based on a SCID interview (excluding those with only a single specific phobia) (DAX-group, N = 181). The control group included those with no DSM-IV- diagnosis (N = 290). They were followed up with the M-CIDI interview assessing 12-month depressive and anxiety disorders in 2011. RESULTS: In 2011, 22.8% of the DAX-group was diagnosed with a depressive or anxiety disorder compared to 9.8% of the control group. Education was lower and quality of life worse in the DAX-group than in the control group. Those participants of the DAX-group who received a diagnosis in 2011 had poorer quality of life than those in remission, which emphasizes the influence of a current disorder on the quality of life. Higher score in the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) at baseline predicted poorer quality of life in 2011. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, depressive and anxiety disorders were persistent/recurrent in one quarter of participants, significantly affecting education and quality of life. Young adults with these disorders need support to achieve their academic goals.

Mortality in people with psychotic disorders in Finland: A population-based 13-year follow-up study.

OBJECTIVES: We conducted a population based study aiming at finding predictors of mortality in psychotic disorders and evaluating the extent to which sociodemographic, lifestyle and health-related factors explain the excess mortality. METHODS: In a nationally representative sample of Finns aged 30-70years (n=5642), psychotic disorders were diagnosed using structured interviews and medical records in 2000-2001. Information on mortality and causes of death was obtained of those who died by the end of year 2013. Cox proportional hazards models were used to investigate the mortality risk. RESULTS: No people with affective psychoses (n=36) died during the follow-up, thus the analysis was restricted to non-affective psychotic disorders (NAP) (n=106). Adjusting for age and sex, NAP was statistically significantly associated with all-cause mortality (hazard ratio (HR) 2.99, 95% CI 2.03-4.41) and natural-cause mortality (HR 2.81, 95% CI 1.85-4.28). After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, health status, inflammation and smoking, the HR dropped to 2.11 (95% CI 1.10-4.05) for all-cause and to 1.98 (95% CI 0.94-4.16) for natural-cause mortality. Within the NAP group, antipsychotic use at baseline was associated with reduced HR for natural-cause mortality (HR 0.25, 95% CI 0.07-0.96), and smoking with increased HR (HR 3.54, 95% CI 1.07-11.69). CONCLUSIONS: The elevated mortality risk in people with NAP is only partly explained by socioeconomic factors, lifestyle, cardio-metabolic comorbidities and inflammation. Smoking cessation should be prioritized in treatment of psychotic disorders. More research is needed on the quality of treatment of somatic diseases in people with psychotic disorders.

Predictors of new-onset depressive disorders - Results from the longitudinal Finnish Health 2011 Study.

BACKGROUND: Identifying risk factors for depression is important for understanding etiological mechanisms and targeting preventive efforts. No prior studies have compared risk factors of dysthymia and major depressive disorder (MDD) in a longitudinal setting. METHODS: Predictors of new-onset MDD and dysthymia were examined in a longitudinal general population study (Health 2000 and 2011 Surveys, BRIF8901). 4057 persons free of depressive disorders at baseline were followed up for 11 years. DSM-IV MDD and dysthymia were diagnosed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. RESULTS: 126 persons (4.4%, 95%CI 3.6-5.2) were diagnosed with MDD or dysthymia at follow-up. Predictors of new-onset depressive disorders were younger age (adjusted OR 0.97, 95%CI 0.95-0.99 per year), female gender (aOR 1.46, 95%CI 1.01-2.12), multiple childhood adversities (aOR 1.76, 95%CI 1.10-2.83), low trust dimension of social capital (aOR 0.58, 95%CI 0.36-0.96 for high trust), baseline anxiety disorder (aOR 2.75, 95%CI 1.36-5.56), and baseline depressive symptoms (aOR 1.65, 95%CI 1.04-2.61 for moderate and aOR 2.49, 95%CI 1.20-5.17 for severe symptoms). Risk factors for MDD were younger age, female gender, anxiety disorder and depressive symptoms, whereas younger age, multiple childhood adversities, low trust, and having 1-2 somatic diseases predicted dysthymia. LIMITATIONS: We only had one follow-up point at eleven years, and did not collect information on the subjects' health during the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Persons with subclinical depressive symptoms, anxiety disorders, low trust, and multiple childhood adversities have a higher risk of depressive disorders. Predictors of MDD and dysthymia appear to differ. This information can be used to target preventive efforts and guide social policies.

Regional Correlates of Psychiatric Inpatient Treatment.

Current reforms of mental health and substance abuse services (MHS) emphasize community-based care and the downsizing of psychiatric hospitals. Reductions in acute and semi-acute hospital beds are achieved through shortened stays or by avoiding hospitalization. Understanding the factors that drive the current inpatient treatment provision is essential. We investigated how the MHS service structure (diversity of services and balance of personnel resources) and indicators of service need (mental health index, education, single household, and alcohol sales) correlated with acute and semi-acute inpatient treatment provision. The European Service Mapping Schedule-Revised (ESMS-R) tool was used to classify the adult MHS structure in southern Finland (population 1.8 million, 18+ years). The diversity of MHS in terms of range of outpatient and day care services or the overall personnel resourcing in inpatient or outpatient services was not associated with the inpatient treatment provision. In the univariate analyses, sold alcohol was associated with the inpatient treatment provision, while in the multivariate modeling, only a general index for mental health needs was associated with greater hospitalization. In the dehospitalization process, direct resource re-allocation and substituting of inpatient treatment with outpatient care per se is likely insufficient, since inpatient treatment is linked to contextual factors in the population and the health care system. Mental health services reforms require both strategic planning of service system as a whole and detailed understanding of effects of societal components.

Cost-effectiveness of apixaban and warfarin in the prevention of thromboembolic complications among atrial fibrillation patients.

BACKGROUND: To reduce the risk of thromboembolic complications, clinical guidelines recommend anticoagulation treatment for almost all atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. Although warfarin has long been the primary treatment alternative, now newer alternatives such as apixaban have proven effective in prevention of the thromboembolic complications of non-valvular AF. The aim of this study is to assess the cost-effectiveness of apixaban when compared with warfarin in the prevention of AF-associated thromboembolic complications in Finland. METHODS: The assessment was performed with a lifetime Markov-model with the following health states: non-valvular AF, ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, other intracranial bleed, other major bleed, clinically relevant non-major bleed, myocardial infarction, and systemic embolism. The treatment efficacies were obtained from the ARISTOTLE trial. Representative Finnish input data were used for the model states, including background mortality, resource use, costs (in 2014 values), and EQ-5D-3L-based quality of life. The results (with 3 % annual discounting) are presented as incremental cost-effectiveness ratios [ICER, cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained], the expected value of perfect information (EVPI), and the probability of apixaban being cost-effective at various willingness-to-pay levels. RESULTS: Apixaban increased life-expectancy by 0.17 years and quality-adjusted life-expectancy by 0.14 QALYs when compared with warfarin. Additional QALY was gained with apixaban at a cost of 1824 euros based on the deterministic analysis. The maximum EVPI was 649 euros/patient at 1282 euros per QALY gained in the probabilistic analysis. The probability of apixaban being cost-effective reached 80 % when the willingness-to-pay per QALY gained was 14,857 euros. In deterministic sensitivity analyses, ICERs varied from dominance of apixaban to additional QALY being gained at a cost of 12,312 euros. CONCLUSIONS: The ICERs obtained were well below the WHO-CHOICE threshold values for cost-effective interventions, suggesting that apixaban is a very cost-effective treatment alternative for warfarin in Finnish patients with AF.

How size matters: exploring the association between quality of mental health services and catchment area size.

BACKGROUND: The diversity of mental health and substance abuse services (MHS) available to service users is seen as an indicator of the quality of the service system. In most countries MHS are provided by a mix of public, private and third sector providers. In Finland, officially, the municipalities are responsible for organizing the services needed, but the real extent and roles of private and third sector service providers are not known. Our previous study showed that the catchment area population size was strongly associated with diversity of mental health services. It is not known whether this was due to some types of services or some provider types being more sensitive to the size effect than others. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between area population size and diversity of mental health services, i.e. which types of services and which service providers' contributions are sensitive to population size. METHODS: To map and classify services, we used the ESMS-R. The diversity of services was defined as the count of main types of care. Providers were classified as public, private or third sectors. RESULTS: The diversity of outpatient, residential and voluntary services correlated positively with catchment area population size. The strongest positive correlation between the size of population and services available was found in third sector activities followed by public providers, but no correlation was found for diversity of private services. The third sector and public corporations each provided 44 % of the service units. Third sector providers produced all self-help services and most of the day care services. Third sector and private companies provided a significant part (59 %) of the residential care service units. CONCLUSIONS: Significant positive correlations were found between size of catchment area population and diversity of residential, outpatient and voluntary services, indicating that these services concentrate on areas with larger population bases. The third sector seems to significantly complement the public sector in providing different services. Thus the third sector be needs to be functionally integrated with other MHS services to achieve a diversified and integrated service system.

Treatment adequacy of anxiety disorders among young adults in Finland.

BACKGROUND: Anxiety disorders are common in early adulthood, but general population studies concerning the treatment adequacy of anxiety disorders taking into account appropriate pharmacological and psychological treatment are scarce. The aims of this study were to examine treatments received for anxiety disorders in a Finnish general population sample of young adults, and to define factors associated with receiving minimally adequate treatment and with dropping out from treatment. METHODS: A questionnaire containing several mental health screens was sent to a nationally representative two-stage cluster sample of 1894 Finns aged 19 to 34 years. All screen positives and a random sample of screen negatives were invited to a mental health assessment including a SCID interview. For the final diagnostic assessment, case records from mental health treatments for the same sample were obtained. This article investigates treatment received, treatment adequacy and dropouts from treatment of 79 participants with a lifetime anxiety disorder (excluding those with a single specific phobia). Based on all available information, receiving antidepressant or buspirone medication for at least 2 months with at least four visits with any type of physician or at least eight sessions of psychotherapy within 12 months or at least 4 days of hospitalization were regarded as minimally adequate treatment for anxiety disorders. Treatment dropout was rated if the patient discontinued the visits by his own decision despite having an adequate treatment strategy according to the case records. RESULTS: Of participants with anxiety disorders (excluding those with a single specific phobia), 41.8 % had received minimally adequate treatment. In the multivariate analysis, comorbid substance use disorder was associated with antidepressant or buspirone medication lasting at least 2 months. Those who were currently married or cohabiting had lower odds of having at least four visits with a physician a year. None of these factors were associated with the final outcome of minimally adequate treatment or treatment dropout. Participants with comorbid personality disorders received and misused benzodiazepines more often than others. CONCLUSIONS: More efforts are needed to provide adequate treatment for young adults with anxiety disorders. Attention should be paid to benzodiazepine prescribing to individuals with personality disorders.

Prognosis of depressive disorders in the general population- results from the longitudinal Finnish Health 2011 Study.

BACKGROUND: Depressive disorders are among the most pressing public health challenges worldwide. Yet, not enough is known about their long-term outcomes. This study examines the course and predictors of different outcomes of depressive disorders in an eleven-year follow-up of a general population sample. METHODS: In a nationally representative sample of Finns aged 30 and over (BRIF8901), major depressive disorder (MDD) and dysthymia were diagnosed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI) in 2000. The participants were followed up in 2011 (n=5733). Outcome measures were diagnostic status, mortality, depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life. Multiple imputation (MI) was used to account for nonresponse. RESULTS: At follow-up, 33.8% of persons with baseline MDD and 42.6% with baseline dysthymia received a diagnosis of depressive, anxiety or alcohol use disorder. Baseline severity of disorder, measured by the Beck Depression Inventory, predicted both persistence of depressive disorder and increased mortality risk. In addition, being never-married, separated or widowed predicted persistence of depressive disorders, whereas somatic and psychiatric comorbidity, childhood adversities and lower social capital did not. Those who received no psychiatric diagnosis at follow-up still had residual symptoms and lower quality of life. LIMITATIONS: We only had one follow-up point at eleven years, and did not collect information on the subjects' health during the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Depressive disorders in the general population are associated with multiple negative outcomes. Severity of index episode is the strongest predictor of negative outcomes. More emphasis should be placed on addressing the long-term consequences of depression.

[Health information and social media: the doctor as a primary school teacher again]. / Terveystieto ja sosiaalinen media.

While health information reaches an increasing proportion of the population through social media, there is no guarantee that the provided information is always either up-to-date or correct. Besides possessing know-how on the assessment of the quality of provided information, doctors are also obliged to offer health information wherever it is requested. It is important for doctors to be present in social media to evaluate and provide health information. This is associated with interesting ethical and judicial questions.

Lung function and respiratory diseases in people with psychosis: population-based study.

BACKGROUND: There is little information on lung function and respiratory diseases in people with psychosis. AIMS: To compare the respiratory health of people with psychosis with that of the general population. METHOD: In a nationally representative sample of 8028 adult Finns, lung function was measured by spirometry. Information on respiratory diseases and symptoms was collected. Smoking was quantified with serum cotinine levels. Psychotic disorders were diagnosed utilising the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I) and medical records. RESULTS: Participants with schizophrenia and other non-affective psychoses had significantly lower lung function values compared with the general population, and the association remained significant for schizophrenia after adjustment for smoking and other potential confounders. Schizophrenia was associated with increased odds of pneumonia (odds ratio (OR) = 4.9), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, OR = 4.2) and chronic bronchitis (OR = 3.8); and with high cotinine levels. CONCLUSIONS: Schizophrenia is associated with impaired lung function and increased risk for pneumonia, COPD and chronic bronchitis.

Treatment received and treatment adequacy of depressive disorders among young adults in Finland.

BACKGROUND: Under-treated depression may be especially harmful in early adulthood. The aims of this study are to describe treatments received for depressive disorders, to define factors associated with treatment adequacy and dropouts from treatment in a Finnish general population sample of young adults. METHODS: A nationally representative two-stage cluster sample of 1894 Finns aged 19 to 34 years was sent a questionnaire containing several mental health screens. All screen positives and a random sample of screen negatives were invited to participate in a mental health assessment including a SCID interview. Case records from mental health treatments for the same sample were obtained for the final diagnostic assessment. Based on all available information, receiving antidepressant pharmacotherapy for at least two months with at least four visits with any type of physician or at least eight sessions of psychotherapy within 12 months or at least four days of hospitalization were regarded as minimally adequate treatment. Treatment dropout was rated if the treatment strategy was assessed to be adequate according to the case records but the patient discontinued the visits. RESULTS: Of participants with depressive disorders (n = 142), 40.9% received minimally adequate treatment. In multiple logistic regression models, substance use disorder and female gender were associated with at least one visit with a physician, while having major depressive disorder was associated with visits with a physician at least 4 times a year. Women had higher odds of having received any psychotherapy and psychotherapy lasting for at least 8 sessions in a year. Low education and a history of suicide attempt were associated with increased odds of treatment dropout. None of the factors explained the final outcome of minimally adequate treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment adequacy in the present study was better than previously seen, but more efforts are needed to provide adequate treatment for young adults, especially those with low education and suicidality.

Health-related quality of life 6 months after burns among hospitalized patients: Predictive importance of mental disorders and burn severity.

RATIONALE: Major burns are likely to have a strong impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We investigated the level of and predictors for quality of life at 6 months after acute burn. METHODS: Consecutive acute adult burn patients (n=107) admitted to the Helsinki Burn Centre were examined with a structured diagnostic interview (SCID) at baseline, and 92 patients (86%) were re-examined at 6 months after injury. During follow-up 55% (51/92) suffered from at least one mental disorder. The mean %TBSA was 9. TBSA of men did not differ from that of women. Three validated instruments (RAND-36, EQ-5, 15D) were used to evaluate the quality of life at 6 months. RESULTS: All the measures (RAND-36, EQ-5, 15D) consistently indicated mostly normal HRQoL at 6 months after burn. In the multivariate linear regression model, %TBSA predicted HRQoL in one dimension (role limitations caused by physical health problems, p=0.039) of RAND-36. In contrast, mental disorders overall and particularly major depressive disorder (MDD) during follow-up (p-values of 0.001-0.002) predicted poor HRQoL in all dimensions of RAND-36. HRQoL of women was worse than that of men. CONCLUSION: Self-perceived HRQoL among acute burn patients at 6 months after injury seems to be mostly as good as in general population studies in Finland. The high standard of acute treatment and the inclusion of small burns (%TBSA<5) in the cohort may partly explain the weak effect of burn itself on HRQoL. Mental disorders strongly predicted HRQoL at 6 months.

Prevalence and correlates of major depressive disorder and dysthymia in an eleven-year follow-up--results from the Finnish Health 2011 Survey.

BACKGROUND: Up-to-date epidemiological data on depressive disorders is needed to understand changes in population health and health care utilization. This study aims to assess the prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) and dysthymia in the Finnish population and possible changes during the past 11 years. METHODS: In a nationally representative sample of Finns aged 30 and above (BRIF8901), depressive disorders were diagnosed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI) in 2000 and 2011. To account for nonresponse, two methods were compared: multiple imputation (MI) utilizing data from the hospital discharge register and from the interview in 2000 and statistical weighting. RESULTS: The MI-corrected 12-month prevalence of MDD was 7.4% (95% CI 5.7-9.0) and of dysthymia was 4.5% (95% CI 3.1-5.9), whereas the corresponding figures using weights were 5.4% (95% CI 4.7-6.1) for MDD and 2.0% (95% CI 1.6-2.4) for dysthymia. Women (OR 2.33, 95% CI 1.6-3.4) and unmarried people (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.2-2.0) had a higher risk of depressive disorders. There was a significant increase in the prevalence of depressive disorders during the follow-up period from 7.3% in 2000 to 9.6% in 2011. Prevalences were two percentage points higher, on average, when using MI compared to weighting. Hospital treatments for depressive disorders and other mental disorders were strongly associated with nonparticipation. LIMITATIONS: The CIDI response rate dropped from 75% in 2000 to 57% in 2011, but this was accounted for by MI and weighting. CONCLUSIONS: Depressive disorders are a growing public health concern in Finland. Non-participation of persons with severe mental disorders may bias the prevalence estimates of mental disorders in population-based studies.