Table 5.
Pearson’s and Spearmen’s correlation between study characteristics and prevalence estimates
| Study characteristic | Depression prevalence estimate |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. of studies | r | p | |
| Male, % | 27 | 0.153 | 0.445 |
| Mean/medium age, year | 27 | -0.054 | 0.790 |
| Mean/medium disease duration, year | 27 | -0.035 | 0.861 |
| Sample size | 28 | -0.450* | 0.016 |
| Representativeness | 28 | -0.215 | 0.272 |
| Comparability | 28 | -0.066 | 0.737 |
| Overall quality | 28 | -0.055 | 0.780 |
| Country of origin | 27 | -0.613† | 0.001 |
| Publication year | 28 | 0.108 | 0.585 |
*
p<0.05,
†
p<0.01