Objective      To explore epidemiological characteristics of depression in the Chinese army men from land army

navy

a

ir force and paramilitary troops.       Methods      Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was employed for a large-scale epidemiological survey of depression in the Chinese military army men from army

navy

air force and paramilitary troops. Eleven thousand and four hundred subjects were surveyed

in which there were 10 505 eligible subjects. We surveyed 32 cities covering 21 provinces (autonomous regions

municipalities directly under the central government). By using SPSS 18.0

we conducted data analysis with Chi-square test and students’t test within 95% confidence interval.       Results      The prevalence rate of depression in Chinese military personnel was 18.1% (95% CI=17.4-18.8). Specifically

the prevalence rates of mild depression

moderate depression and major depression were respectively 8.6% (95% CI=8.0-9.2)

4.4% (95% CI=4.0-4.8) and 5.1% (95% CI=4.7-5.5). The morbidity of depression in male group was significantly higher than that in female group (18.2% vs 10.2%

Chi

-square=6.034

P0.05). The prevalence of depression in different types of troop were significantly different: arranged from high to low

they were land army

navy

air force and paramilitary troops (19.9% vs 17.0% vs 11.2 % vs 6.7%

Chi

-square=88.673

P0.05). The morbidity of depression at different levels of position was significantly different: arranged from high to low

they were sergeant

soldier and officer (19.3% vs 17.5% vs 15.4%

P0.05). The prevalence of depression in the military personnel with bachelor degrees was lower than that in the personnel with junior high school education

senior high school education and master or PHD degrees (16.2% vs 19.8% vs18.2% vs 18.7%

P0.05). The lengths of military service with top 3 high prevalencerates of depression were respectively 11 years (25.8%)

9 years (24.8%) and 10 years (24.2%). The ages with top three high prevalence rates of depression were respectively 28(27.0%)

30(25.4%) and 26 yearsold (22.2%).       Conclusion      The current morbidity and severi

ty of depression in the Chinese army men are possibly lower than civilian

with significant differences in the sex

age

services

position level

education level

and length of military service.