Estimating the prevalence of depression using wastewater-based epidemiology: A case study in Qinghai Province, West China

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is considered a cost-effective alternative approach capable of determining the consumption and prevalence of drug use in communities, however, the application of WBE for estimating the preva-lence of depression has seldom been reported. In this study, the prevalence of antidepressants was estimated in five cities in Qinghai Province, west China to examine the feasibility of using WBE to estimate the depression prevalence. Residual concentrations of the drugs varied from different wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in five cities. Venlafaxine (0.06-720 ng/L), O-desmethylvenlafaxine (1.31-1659 ng/L), paroxetine (

Automated summary

Wastewater-based epidemiology is a cost-effective method to determine drug consumption and prevalence in communities. This study estimated the prevalence of antidepressants in five cities in Qinghai Province, China, using wastewater analysis, and examined the feasibility of using this method to estimate depression prevalence.