Risk of chronic disease in individuals reporting feeling down, depressed, or hopeless

Abstract

Introduction Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless may provide a comprehensive measure for physicians to utilize, allowing them to quickly assess risk for chronic diseases. Objective The objective of this study was to assess the risk of chronic disease with feelings of depression. Methods A 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. Statistical analysis showed that out of the participants that have reported feeling down, depressed, or hopeless almost every day, 54.3% reported being told they had high blood pressure (χ2=116.108, p= 0.000), 44.1% with high cholesterol level (χ2=540893, p= 0.000), 22.9% had a doctor tell them they have diabetes (χ2=91.091, p= 0.000), 25.0% with Asthma (χ2=93.836, p= 0.000), 49.5% had a doctor tell them they were overweight (χ2=59.319, p= 0.000), 8.2% had coronary heart disease (χ2=32.390, p= 0.000), and 11.4% that had cancer or malignancy (χ2=7.732, 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 had asthma, 14.1% told they were overweight, 3.9% with coronary heart disease, and 9.4% who had cancer or malignancy. Individuals reporting feelings of depressions and poor appetite over several days had 34.9% have high blood pressure, 34.3% with high cholesterol, 13.6%with diabetes, 20% told they had asthma 40.1% told they were overweight, 3.9% with coronary heart disease, and 10.3 who had cancer or malignancy. Within Individuals who reported feelings of depression more than half the days, 46.8% had high blood pressure, 40.2% with high cholesterol, 15.3% with diabetes, 21.6% had asthma, 45.5% told they were overweight, 6.6% with coronary heart disease, and 9.9% who had cancer or malignancy. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that the assessment of feeling down, depressed, or hopeless is significantly associated with risk of certain chronic diseases. Individuals who have reported feeling depressed every day had more individuals reporting a diagnosis of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, asthma, being overweight, and coronary heart disease. The results of this study can indicate the self-reported measure of feelings of depression can be useful in the clinical setting to assess both patient's risk for depression and for chronic disease. Further research can be conducted to assess the efficacy of measures for depression such as the PHQ-2 and PHQ-6 to assess risk of chronic disease risk.