Summary: Adults with a history of depression develop long-term physical conditions about 30% faster than those without, according to a large study. Researchers analyzed data from over 172,000 participants and found that those with depression accrued an average of 0.2 additional conditions per year, compared to 0.16 in those without. Common conditions included osteoarthritis, hypertension, and acid reflux.
The findings suggest depression is more than just a mental health disorder—it affects overall physical health. Current healthcare models focus on treating individual conditions, but an integrated approach is needed. Addressing both mental and physical health together could improve long-term outcomes for those with depression.
Key Facts:
- Faster Disease Progression: Adults with depression develop physical conditions 30% faster than those without.
- Common Conditions: Osteoarthritis, hypertension, and acid reflux were among the most frequently developed illnesses.
- Healthcare Implications: The findings highlight the need for integrated mental and physical healthcare approaches.
Source: PLOS
Adults with a history of depression gain long-term physical conditions around 30% faster than those without, according to research publishing February 13th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine. Kelly Fleetwood of the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, and colleagues argue that their study suggests depression should be viewed as a ‘whole body’ condition, and integrated approaches should be used to manage mental and physical health.
Depression is the most common mental health condition and is associated with a range of adverse physical health outcomes such as heart disease and diabetes. Past research has compared people with and without depression to see how many physical conditions they develop over time, but most studies look at a small number of illnesses.
Fleetwood and colleagues aimed to quantify the association between depression and the rate at which conditions accrued in midlife and older age.
The team included 172,556 volunteers in the UK Biobank study, aged 40-71 years, who completed a baseline assessment between 2006 and 2010.
They selected 69 physical conditions and followed participants for an average of 6.9 years. Initially, those with depression had an average of three physical conditions compared with an average of two in those without.
Over the study period, adults with a history of depression accrued an average of 0.2 additional physical conditions per year, while those without accrued 0.16. The most common new conditions were osteoarthritis (15.7% of those with depression at baseline vs 12.5% without), hypertension (12.9% vs 12.0%) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (13.8% vs 9.6%).
The results highlight that previous diagnosis of depression is a marker of risk for development of long-term physical health conditions during middle and older-age.
Most healthcare systems are designed to treat individual conditions rather than individuals with multiple conditions, and the authors believe that integrated approaches to managing both mental and physical health could improve care and outcomes.
The authors add, “People who’ve experienced depression are more likely to develop long-term physical health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes; however, existing healthcare systems are designed to treat individual conditions, instead of individual people with multiple conditions.
“We need healthcare services to take an integrated approach to caring for people who have both depression and long-term physical health conditions.”
Funding: This work was funded by the Medical Research Council (https://www.ukri.org/councils/mrc/)/National Institute for Health Research (https://www.nihr.ac.uk/) (MC/S028013) (BG [principal investigator]; CS, JN, SM, CJ, DM, DS [co-investigators]).
The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report.
About this health and depression research news
Author: Claire Turner
Source: PLOS
Contact: Claire Turner – PLOS
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“A cohort study of physical health condition accrual in UK Biobank” by Kelly Fleetwood et al. PLOS Medicine
Abstract
A cohort study of physical health condition accrual in UK Biobank
Background
Depression is associated with a range of adverse physical health outcomes. We aimed to quantify the association between depression and the subsequent rate of accrual of long-term physical health conditions in middle and older age.
Methods and findings
We included 172,556 participants from the UK Biobank (UKB) cohort study, aged 40–71 years old at baseline assessment (2006–2010), who had linked primary care data available.
Using self-report, primary care, hospital admission, cancer registry, and death records, we ascertained 69 long-term physical health conditions at both UKB baseline assessment and during a mean follow-up of 6.9 years.
We used quasi-Poisson models to estimate associations between history of depression at baseline and subsequent rate of physical condition accrual. Within our cohort, 30,770 (17.8%) had a history of depression.
Compared to those without depression, participants with depression had more physical conditions at baseline (mean 2.9 [SD 2.3] versus 2.1 [SD 1.9]) and accrued additional physical conditions at a faster rate (mean 0.20 versus 0.16 additional conditions/year during follow-up).
After adjustment for age and sex, participants with depression accrued physical morbidities at a faster rate than those without depression (RR 1.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.31, 1.34]).
After adjustment for all sociodemographic characteristics, the rate of condition accrual remained higher in those with versus without depression (RR 1.30, 95% CI [1.28, 1.32]).
This association attenuated but remained statistically significant after additional adjustment for baseline condition count and social/lifestyle factors (RR 1.10, 95% CI [1.09, 1.12]). The main limitation of this study is healthy volunteer selection bias, which may limit generalisability of findings to the wider population.
Conclusions
Middle-aged and older adults with a history of depression have more long-term physical health conditions at baseline and accrue additional physical conditions at a faster rate than those without a history of depression.
Our findings highlight the importance of integrated approaches to managing both mental and physical health outcomes.
