Excess risk of chronic physical conditions associated with depression and anxiety

Abstract

BackgroundDepression and anxiety have been reported to be associated with chronic physical conditions. We examined the excess risk of chronic physical conditions associated with depression and/or anxiety within a multivariate framework controlling for demographic and modifiable lifestyle risk factors.MethodsWe used a retrospective cross-sectional study design. Study participants were adults aged 22–64 years from 2007 and 2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. We defined presence of depression-anxiety based on self-reported depression and anxiety and classified adults into 4 groups: 1) depression only; 2) anxiety only; 3) comorbid depression and anxiety 4) no depression and no anxiety. We included presence/absence of arthritis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and osteoporosis as dependent variables. Complementary log-log regressions were used to examine the excess risk associated with depression and/or anxiety for chronic physical conditions using a multivariate framework that controlled for demographic (gender, age, race/ethnicity) and modifiable lifestyle (obesity, lack of physical activity, smoking) risk factors. Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons was applied and p ≤0.007 was considered statistically significant.ResultsOverall, 7% had only depression, 5.2% had only anxiety and 2.5% had comorbid depression and anxiety. Results from multivariable regressions indicated that compared to individuals with no depression and no anxiety, individuals with comorbid depression and anxiety, with depression only and with anxiety only, all had higher risk of all the chronic physical conditions. ARRs for comorbid depression and anxiety ranged from 2.47 (95% CI: 1.47, 4.15; P = 0.0007) for osteoporosis to 1.64 (95% CI: 1.33, 2.04; P < 0.0001) for diabetes. Presence of depression only was also found to be significantly associated with all chronic conditions except for osteoporosis. Individuals with anxiety only were found to have a higher risk for arthritis, COPD, heart disease and hypertension.ConclusionPresence of depression and/or anxiety conferred an independent risk for having chronic physical conditions after adjusting for demographic and modifiable lifestyle risk factors.

Dose–response relations between second-hand smoke exposure and depressive symptoms among middle-aged women

“…Finally, a growing body of evidence suggests that SHS exposure is associated with adverse health effects, including heart disease, cancer and a worsening of asthma, and many others (Mackay D et al, 2010;Öberg et al, 2011). All of these adverse health conditions are also associated with depression (Bhattacharya et al, 2014). Thus, SHS exposure may have effect on depressive symptoms by a direct and indirect multi-step process.…”

Differential dendritic remodeling in prelimbic cortex of male and female rats during recovery from chronic stress

“…These results suggest that the long-term sequelae of stress—rather than its immediate effects—may be critical determinants of risk for stress-related psychological disorders. Further, given the increased risk for stress-related psychopathologies in women (Solomon and Herman, 2009), as well as the increased propensity to develop psychopathology following multiple life stressors (Risch et al, 2009, Lian et al, 2014), elucidating the mechanisms underlying sex differences in recovery patterns from chronic stress has important implications for developing targeted treatment options for these disorders.…”

“…Further, there is evidence that the number of self-reported stressful life events is positively correlated with risk for depression (Risch et al, 2009) and PTSD (Lian et al, 2014), and alterations in prefrontal cortex volume are observed following repeated stressors, even in non-patient populations (Papagni et al, 2011). Thus, incomplete or aberrant recovery from stress may leave some individuals vulnerable to the deleterious effects of subsequent stressors.…”

Associations between diabetes, major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder comorbidity, and disability: Findings from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey — Mental Health (CCHS-MH)

“…However, the extent to which diabetes was associated with comorbid anxiety and depressive symptoms relative to anxiety or depressive symptoms alone was not estimated. Additionally, population-based cross-sectional evidence [25] suggests that having both a medicallydiagnosed anxiety disorder and depressive disorder was associated with the greatest risk diabetes, compared with having only one or neither condition. The assessments of depression and anxiety, however, were restricted to medical diagnoses, and the use of medical diagnoses can limit the generalizability of the findings given that undiagnosed depression and anxiety is common in both the general population [26] and in individuals with diabetes [27].…”