No robust relation between larger cities and depression

“Larger cities provide a buffer against depression”—this astounding statement is from a PNAS article by Stier et al. (1) on how depression rates scale with the population of metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). It is astounding as it runs contrary to a wealth of psychological and epidemiological research showing the complex nature of depression and the detrimental influence of cities (2⇓–4). This conflict with prior research makes it paramount to study the quality of the evidence. In this letter we carry out this task by considering the robustness of the finding. Our analysis suggests that their data do not support their conclusion.