The Risk of Chronic Diseases in Individuals Responding to a Measure for the Initial Screening of Depression and Reported Feelings of Being Down, Depressed, or Hopeless

Abstract

IntroductionFeeling down, depressed, or hopeless may provide a comprehensive measure for physicians to utilize, allowing a possible way to assess risk for chronic diseases. MethodsA face-to-face, in-home, validated survey was conducted on participants aged 16 and older. Trained interviewers administered the questionnaire through the Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) system. Through this measure, responses such as feelings of depression, diagnosis of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, being overweight, coronary heart disease, and cancer or malignancy were recorded. Statistical analysis was conducted by descriptive analysis, Chi-Square test, and multinomial regression analysis. Results: Data are presented as a mean ± SD and percentage. A total of 10560 individuals participated in the survey. Of participants reporting feeling down, depressed, or hopeless almost every day, 54.3% reported high blood pressure (χ2=116.108, p= 0.000), 44.1% with high cholesterol level (χ2=54.89, p= 0.000), 22.9% with diabetes (χ 2 =91.09, p= 0.000), 25.0% with asthma (χ2=93.83, p= 0.000), 49.5% had a doctor tell them they were overweight (χ2=59.32, p= 0.000), 8.2% had coronary heart disease (χ2=32.39, p= 0.000), and 11.4% that had cancer or malignancy (χ2=7.73, p= 0.655). This is compared to individuals who reported no feelings of depression, with 34.2% having high blood pressure, 32.2% with high cholesterol, 12.9% with diabetes, 14.1% told they had asthma, 14.1% told they were overweight, 3.9% with coronary heart disease, and 9.4% who had cancer or malignancy. ConclusionThe assessment of feeling down, depressed, or hopeless is significantly associated with the risk of certain chronic diseases, with those who reported feelings of depression nearly every day at the highest risk.

Correlation Between Body Mass Index and Depression/Depression-Like Symptoms Among Different Genders and Races

“…Several studies have shown a positive correlation between BMI and depression-like symptoms [ 19 , 20 ]. In contrast to our initial hypothesis, when combining the prevalence percentage of being overweight or obese among men and women according to each depression symptom from the questionnaire, men who had a higher prevalence of being overweight or obese chose “more than half the days” or “nearly every day” for each depression category, except for the percentage of men who responded “more than half the days” when asked about being better off dead.…”

Body Mass Index (BMI): A Screening Tool Analysis

“…Body mass index (BMI) can be calculated via mathematical operations where height and weight values are used to estimate the health status of a person [5]. BMI as a measurement is typically used to gauge the risk of developing chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, depression, and cancer [4][5][6][7][8]. The BMI calculation will fall within a numerical range, which places an individual into one of four categories.…”

Obesity- and lipid-related indices as a predictor of type 2 diabetes in a national cohort study

“…It should be noted that no agreement has been reached on the association of obesity and lipid-associated indices with T2DM. For instance, the BMI is frequently used to estimate the likelihood of contracting chronic diseases including diabetes, hypertension, depression, and cancer (14)(15)(16)(17). However, compared to other measurements like WC, WHR, and WHtR, BMI was the least accurate predictor for cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia in the study conducted by Lee et al (18).…”