Abstract
BackgroundMajor depressive disorder (MDD) is often comorbid with other chronic mental and physical health conditions. Although the literature widely acknowledges the association of many chronic conditions with the risk of MDD, the relative importance of these conditions on MDD risk in the presence of other conditions is not well investigated. In this study, we aimed to quantify the relative contribution of selected chronic conditions to identify the conditions most influential to MDD risk in adults and identify differences by age.MethodsThis study used electronic health record (EHR) data on patients empanelled with primary care at Mayo Clinic in June 2013. A validated EHR-based algorithm was applied to identify newly diagnosed MDD patients between 2000 and 2013. Non-MDD controls were matched 1:1 to MDD cases on birth year (±2 years), sex, and outpatient clinic visits in the same year of MDD case diagnosis. Twenty-four chronic conditions defined by Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse were ascertained in both cases and controls using diagnosis codes within 5 years of index dates (diagnosis dates for cases, and the first clinic visit dates for matched controls). For each age group (45 years or younger, between 46 and 60, and over 60 years), conditional logistic regression models were used to test the association between each condition and subsequent MDD risk, adjusting for educational attainment and obesity. The relative influence of these conditions on the risk of MDD was quantified using gradient boosting machine models.ResultsA total of 11,375 incident MDD cases were identified between 2000 and 2013. Most chronic conditions (except for eye conditions) were associated with risk of MDD, with different association patterns observed depending on age. Among 24 chronic conditions, the greatest relative contribution was observed for diabetes mellitus for subjects aged ≤ 60 years and rheumatoid arthritis/osteoarthritis for those over 60 years.ConclusionsOur results suggest that specific chronic conditions such as diabetes mellitus and rheumatoid arthritis/osteoarthritis may have greater influence than others on the risk of MDD.
Highlights
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is often comorbid with other chronic mental and physical health conditions
MDD is associated with declines in overall health that are equivalent to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and arthritis, and the presence of chronic disease with MDD contributes to greater disease burden and cost to society than that of each illness alone [4]
Pain and functional impairment associated with chronic conditions may increase the risk of MDD, but MDD may exacerbate the pain and distress associated with somatic illnesses (NICE guidelines [CG91] Published date: October 2009), suggesting a bi-directional relationship between MDD and chronic somatic illness
Summary
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is often comorbid with other chronic mental and physical health conditions. MDD patients with comorbid chronic somatic conditions tend to have worse depression outcomes than patients without such comorbidities, including more persistent depressive symptoms, higher relapse rates, longer time to recovery [9,10,11], and greater utilization of medical resources [12]. These observations may be due to negative reciprocal interactions between MDD, depressive symptoms, and chronic somatic illness. Pain and functional impairment associated with chronic conditions may increase the risk of MDD, but MDD may exacerbate the pain and distress associated with somatic illnesses (NICE guidelines [CG91] Published date: October 2009), suggesting a bi-directional relationship between MDD and chronic somatic illness
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