Risk Of Severe Depression Research Articles

Smoking and depression among psychiatric patients

The present study examined the relationship between smoking and depression among patients with different psychiatric diagnoses according to DSM-III-R criteria. The study sample of 1217 consecutive in- and outpatients, treated at the Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, in eastern Finland, was interviewed with two sets of questions during May 1993. The prevalence of smoking was higher among severely depressive than among mildly or moderately depressive patients in all diagnostic categories, except in male schizophrenics. However, this difference in rate of smoking was statistically significant only among men with major depression and women with personality disorder. The best determinants of severe depression in a multiple logistic model were diagnosis of major depression, personality disorder, and dysthymia. According to the model, current smokers had a 40% higher risk of severe depression than nonsmokers. Because both smoking and depression are major public health problems, the observed association deserves more thorough research, especially by psychiatric specialists.

Magnetic fields of transmission lines and depression.

Electromagnetic fields have been suggested to contribute to the risk of depression by causing pineal dysfunction. Some epidemiologic studies have supported this possibility but have generally reported crude methods of exposure assessment and nonsystematic evaluation of depression. Using two available nationwide data sets, the authors identified from the Finnish Twin Cohort Study 12,063 persons who had answered the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory of self-rated depressive symptoms in 1990. The personal 20-year histories of exposure (i.e., distance and calculated annual average magnetic fields) before 1990 to overhead 110- to 400-kv power lines were obtained from the Finnish Transmission Line Cohort Study. The adjusted mean Beck Depression Inventory scores did not differ by exposure, providing some assurance that proximity to high-voltage transmission lines is not associated with changes within the common range of depressive symptoms. However, the risk of severe depression was increased 4.7-fold (95% confidence interval 1.70-13.3) among subjects living within 100 m of a high-voltage power line. This finding was based on small numbers. The authors recommend that attempts be made to strive for a better understanding of the exposure characteristics in relation to the onset and course of depression.