Depression occurs in a quarter of general practice attendees, relapse is frequent five to 10 years from first presentation and residual disability is common. Estimating overall risk across a range of putative risk factors is fundamental to prevention of depression.

This is a prospective study. As part of the European Predict study, in Málaga (Spain), 9 general practices were recruited. Consecutive attendees aged 18 to 75 were recruited and undertook a detailed interview. Subjects were administered the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) depression subscale allowing diagnoses using ICD-10 criteria for depressive episode. For risk factors the interviews included individual-level risk factors and environmental risk factors. All participants completed baseline and follow up assessments at six and 12 months.

A total of 1276 patients were interviewed in the first assessment of the PREDICT study, in Málaga, (Spain) and the response rate of the study one year later was 88%. Out of 1276, 70.5% of the sample is women whilst only 29.5% were men. The sample's mean age was 49 years (SD=15.3). Depression was common amongst this sample of primary care attendees, although point prevalence values varied slightly according to the diagnostic criteria used. The prevalence of ICD-10 Depressive Episode was 38.2% while ICD-10 depressive episode of mild was 3.4% moderate 12% and severe intensity 22.8%.

The high prevalence we found shows that the depressive disorders are a very common problem with the primary care attendees in our area.