Correspondence: Jennette Toews, Surveillance and Epidemiology Division, Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention, Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch, Public Health Agency of Canada, 785 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K9; Tel: 613-355-1658; Fax: 613-941-2057; Email: jennette.toews@phac-aspc.gc.ca

Mood and anxiety disorders are the most common types of mental disorder in Canada, yet there has been a lack of up-to-date information on the impacts of these disorders and approaches used to manage them. To address these gaps, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), in conjunction with Statistics Canada and other external experts, developed the 2014 Survey on Living with Chronic Diseases in Canada–Mood and Anxiety Disorders Component (SLCDC-MA). ^{Footnote 1}

The 2014 SLCDC-MA is the only national survey to collect information on the experiences of Canadians with professionally diagnosed mood and anxiety disorders. This survey provides detailed information on a wide variety of topics related to mood and/or anxiety disorders including disorder-attributable impacts on usual and work-related activities; medical and individual approaches used to manage them; and barriers to care and self-management. Furthermore, as a cross-sectional follow-up survey to the 2013 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), responses were linked to those from the CCHS, creating an even richer dataset that includes additional health-related information such as comorbidities, lifestyle behaviours, and health determinants.

By way of this special theme issue on mood and anxiety disorders, we are pleased to introduce three original articles that PHAC, in collaboration with external experts, has developed using data from the 2014 SLCDC-MA. These articles provide new information on the experiences of Canadian adults with professionally diagnosed mood and/or anxiety disorders, with a specific focus on the key sociodemographic factors known to influence health-related outcomes.