Estimating the Burden of Common Mental Disorders Attributable to Lifestyle Factors: Protocol for the Global Burden of Disease Lifestyle and Mental Disorder (GLAD) Project

Ashtree, Deborah N., Orr, Rebecca, Lane, Melissa M., Akbaraly, Tasnime N., Bonaccio, Marialaura, Costanzo, Simona, Gialluisi, Alessandro, Grosso, Giuseppe, Lassale, Camille, Martini, Daniela, Monasta, Lorenzo, Santomauro, Damian, Stanaway, Jeffrey, Jacka, Felice N., and O'Neil, Adrienne (2025) Estimating the Burden of Common Mental Disorders Attributable to Lifestyle Factors: Protocol for the Global Burden of Disease Lifestyle and Mental Disorder (GLAD) Project. JMIR Research Protocols, 14. 65576.

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Abstract

Background: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) collects and calculates risk-outcome data for modifiable lifestyle exposures (eg, dietary intake) and physical health outcomes (eg, cancers). These estimates form a critical digital resource tool, the GBD VizHub data visualization tool, for governments and policy makers to guide local, regional, and global health decisions. Despite evidence showing the contributions of lifestyle exposures to common mental disorders (CMDs), such as depression and anxiety, GBD does not currently generate these lifestyle exposure-mental disorder outcome pairings. This gap is due to a lack of uniformly collected and analyzed data about these exposures as they relate to CMDs. Such data are required to quantify whether, and to what degree, the global burden of CMDs could be reduced by targeting lifestyle factors at regional and global levels. We have established the Global burden of disease Lifestyle And mental Disorder (GLAD) Taskforce to address this gap. Objective: This study aims to generate the necessary estimates to afford the inclusion of lifestyle exposures as risk factors for CMDs in the GBD study and the GBD digital visualization tools, initially focusing on the relationship between dietary intake and CMDs. Methods: The GLAD project is a multicenter, collaborative effort to integrate lifestyle exposures as risk factors for CMDs in the GBD study. To achieve this aim, global epidemiological studies will be recruited to conduct harmonized data analyses estimating the risk, odds, or hazards of lifestyle exposures with CMD outcomes. Initially, these models will focus on the relationship between dietary intake, as defined by the GBD, and anxiety and depression. Results: As of August 2024, 18 longitudinal cohort studies from 9 countries (Australia: n=4; Brazil: n=1; France: n=1; Italy: n=3; The Netherlands: n=3; New Zealand: n=1; South Africa: n=1; Spain: n=1; and United Kingdom: n=3) have agreed to participate in the GLAD project. Conclusions: Our comprehensive, collaborative approach allows for the concurrent execution of a harmonized statistical analysis protocol across multiple, internationally renowned epidemiological cohorts. These results will be used to inform the GBD study and incorporate lifestyle risk factors for CMD in the GBD digital platform. Consequently, given the worldwide influence of the GBD study, findings from the GLAD project can offer valuable insights to policy makers worldwide around lifestyle-based mental health care.

Item ID: 88734
Item Type: Article (Scholarly Work)
ISSN: 1929-0748
Keywords: anxiety, burden of disease, depression, diet, epidemiology, lifestyle, mental disorders, mental health
Copyright Information: © Deborah N Ashtree, Rebecca Orr, Melissa M Lane, Tasnime N Akbaraly, Marialaura Bonaccio, Simona Costanzo, Alessandro Gialluisi, Giuseppe Grosso, Camille Lassale, Daniela Martini, Lorenzo Monasta, Damian Santomauro, Jeffrey Stanaway, Felice N Jacka, Adrienne O'Neil. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 14.03.2025. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Research Protocols, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.researchprotocols.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
Funders: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Projects and Grants: NHMRC 2009295, NHMRC 1194982, NHMRC 2009295
Date Deposited: 24 Jun 2026 06:15
FoR Codes: 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4202 Epidemiology > 420207 Major global burdens of disease @ 100%
SEO Codes: 20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200404 Disease distribution and transmission (incl. surveillance and response) @ 100%
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