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Meta-Analysis
. 2025 Jan 15;68(1):e11.
doi: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2024.1813.

Prevalence and comorbidity rates of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder in epidemiological and clinical samples: systematic review and meta-analysis

Xavier Benarous  1   2 , Hélène Lahaye  3   4 , Angèle Consoli  1   2 , David Cohen  2   5 , Réal Labelle  6   7 , Jean-Marc Guilé  3   4   8   9
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Prevalence and comorbidity rates of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder in epidemiological and clinical samples: systematic review and meta-analysis

Xavier Benarous et al. Eur Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates the prevalence of disruptive mood dysregulation disorders (DMDD) in community-based and clinical populations.

Methods: PubMed and PsychINFO databases were searched, using terms specific to DMDD, for studies of prevalence and comorbidity rates conducted in youths below 18.

Results: Fourteen studies reporting data from 2013 to 2023 were included. The prevalence of DMDD in the community-based samples was 3.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4-6.0) and 21.9% (95% CI, 15.5-29.0) in the clinical population. The differences in the identification strategy of DMDD were associated with significant heterogeneity between studies in the community-based samples, with a prevalence of 0.82% (95% CI, 0.11-2.13) when all diagnosis criteria were considered. Anxiety, depressive disorders, and ADHD were the most frequent comorbidity present with DMDD. The association with other neurodevelopmental disorders remained poorly investigated.

Conclusions: Caution is required when interpreting these findings, considering the quality of the reviewed data and the level of unexplained heterogeneity among studies. This review stresses the importance of considering a strict adhesion to DMDD criteria when exploring its clinical correlates.

Keywords: aggression; depressive disorder; emotional dysregulation; irritability; mood dysregulation; pediatric depression; temper outburst.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest associated with this publication.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow-chart.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Doi plot of studies measuring the prevalence of DMDD in (a) community-based samples and (b) clinical samples.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Forest plot of studies measuring the prevalence of DMDD in community-based samples: subgroup analysis based on the number of DSM criteria used. Note. The number (1 to 3) refers to the different ways the DMDD was identified in the reviewed studies (1 = studies using all DSM criteria, 2 = studies using all DSM criteria except exclusion criteria for psychiatric comorbidity (i.e., bipolar disorder), 3 = studies using all DSM criteria except exclusion criteria for comorbidity and age criteria (age at the onset before 10 and at least 6-year-old).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Forest plot of studies measuring the prevalence of DMDD in clinical samples.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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