Chronic cough, not asthma, is associated with depression in the elderly: a community-based population analysis in South Korea

Abstract

Background/AimsDepression and allergic diseases, including asthma, are frequently reported as comorbid conditions. However, their associations have been rarely examined in community-based elderly populations.MethodsThe analyses were performed using the baseline data set of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Health and Aging, which consists of 1,000 elderly participants (aged > 65 years) randomly recruited from an urban community. Depression was assessed using the Geriatric Depression Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Major and minor depressive disorders were diagnosed by psychiatrists. Allergic conditions were assessed using structured questionnaires, lung function, and skin prick test. Quality of life and comorbidities were assessed using structured questionnaires.ResultsPrevalence of asthma and major depressive disorder were 5.4% and 5.3%, respectively. The rate of depression was not significantly different between the non-asthmatic and asthmatic groups. No correlation was observed between the scores obtained using the depression scales and self-reported asthma. However, chronic, frequent, and nocturnal cough were significantly associated with depression and scores obtained using the depression scales, which remained significant in multivariate logistic regression analyses (chronic cough: odds ratio [OR], 3.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.57 to 12.74; p = 0.04). Rhinitis was independently associated with high Mini-Mental State Examination scores (OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.17; p < 0.001) and low 36-item short-form (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.80 to 0.98; p = 0.002).ConclusionsDepression may not be significantly associated with asthma and allergic diseases in elderly populations, but cough is a significant factor affecting depression.

Disease burden and quality of life of patients with chronic cough in Japan: a population-based cross-sectional survey

“…A South Korean study similarly found a significant association Open access between chronic, frequent and nocturnal cough and depression. 12 Disturbed sleep, anxiety and depression were also commonly reported among patients with CC in a UK study, in respectively 70%, 69% and 55% of patients with CC. 32 In this study, currently employed patients with CC reported a significantly higher impairment of work productivity compared with matched non-cough respondents.…”

“…11 CC has also been associated with increased rates of depression. 12 In Japan, one study revealed that patients with CC with cough variant asthma had impaired QoL as measured by the Leicester…”

Impact of Chronic Cough on Health-Related Quality of Life in the Korean Adult General Population: The Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010–2016

“…Furthermore, chronic cough is frequently comorbid with respiratory and non-respiratory diseases, 27 35 making the cough-related QoL data difficult to interpret, although we think that comorbidity is part of a disease, either in terms of the pathophysiology or causal relationships. Depression is frequently associated with chronic cough 12 28 36 37 ; however, depression in patients with chronic cough is likely to be a consequence of cough, because it significantly improves with cough resolution. 28 However, depression is considered as a major confounder in the present study, because it is a part of EQ-5D dimension score and also its implication may be different from that in specialist cough clinics.…”

Understanding the Impact of Chronic Cough on the Quality of Life in the General Population

“…Chronic cough and symptoms of depression are reported to be closely related, and improvement of cough was correlated with improvement in depression scores. 1 11 12 Depression comorbidity is important for the QoL; thus, the impact of chronic cough on the QoL should be assessed after completely excluding the effects of depression. However, it is very difficult to achieve this in reality.…”