# Real-World Evidence for Psychiatric Disorders from the German Disease Analyzer Database: A Narrative Review

## TL;DR

This review summarizes recent studies using the German Disease Analyzer database to understand psychiatric disorders in real-world settings.

## Contribution

The paper provides a narrative review of DA-based psychiatric research since 2020, highlighting trends and implications for future research.

## Key findings

- DA-based studies have explored various psychiatric outcomes, including depression and anxiety disorders.
- The database captures longitudinal data on psychiatric disorders across different clinical contexts.
- Findings include insights into comorbidity patterns and treatment trajectories under routine care.

## Abstract

The German IQVIA Disease Analyzer (DA) database has become an increasingly important source of real-world evidence for psychiatric research. Over the past decade, and particularly since 2020, DA-based studies have addressed a broad spectrum of psychiatric outcomes including depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, dementia, sleep disorders, and the mental health consequences of chronic somatic diseases and of contracting COVID-19. Using large, representative outpatient cohorts, these studies have examined factors associated with the incidence of psychiatric disorders, patterns of psychiatric and somatic comorbidity, treatment trajectories, and long-term outcomes under routine care conditions. The DA database’s longitudinal structure, nationwide coverage, and inclusion of multiple medical specialties enable it to capture psychiatric disorders throughout patient lifetimes and across different clinical contexts. This narrative review summarizes psychiatric research using the DA database that has been published since 2020, focusing on study design, main findings, methodological strengths and limitations, and implications for future psychiatric epidemiology and clinical research.