Youth depression tied to higher risk of 66 diseases and premature death


Date:
December 9, 2020
Source:
Karolinska Institutet
Summary:
Depressed children and teenagers have an increased risk of
suffering from premature death and a wide range of illnesses later
in life. That is according to a large observational study. The
findings highlight the need to look for other potential diseases
following childhood or adolescent depression. Other psychiatric
conditions, such as anxiety and substance misuse, can explain part
of the association.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Depressed children and teenagers have an increased risk of suffering
from premature death and a wide range of illnesses later in life. That
is according to a large observational study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The findings highlight the need to look for other potential diseases following childhood or adolescent depression. Other psychiatric conditions, such as anxiety and substance misuse, can
explain part of the association. The study is published in the journal
JAMA Psychiatry.


==========================================================================
"Our study shows that children and teenagers diagnosed with depression
have a significantly higher risk of premature death, self-harm, and
suffering from other diseases later in life" says Sarah E. Bergen,
senior researcher at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and
Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, and corresponding author of the
study. "It underscores how important it is that these children and
teenagers receive the help they need and that medical personnel monitor
for subsequent psychiatric and somatic diseases." Depression is rarely diagnosed in young children but increases in prevalence through the
teenage years. Previous studies have linked depression in adolescents to
an increased risk of several adverse outcomes, including atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease and premature death. Other psychiatric conditions,
such as anxiety and substance use disorder, are also commonly linked.

In this study, the researchers wanted to examine whether depression at an
early age might be associated with a wide spectrum of diseases diagnosed
later in life. They also examined how other psychiatric conditions
affected the association and whether youth depression heightened the
risk of premature death.

The researchers followed almost 1.5 million Swedish girls and boys,
of whom more than 37,000 were diagnosed with depression at least once
between the ages of 5 and 19. When the research concluded, they were
between 17 and 31 years old.

The study found that children and teenagers with depression had a higher
risk of being diagnosed with 66 out of 69 examined medical conditions, including sleep disorders, type 2 diabetes, viral hepatitis, and kidney
and liver diseases. Compared to those without depression, they also had
a significantly higher risk of injuries, especially injuries inflicted
by self-harm, and an almost six-fold higher risk of premature death.

The findings also revealed sex differences. For example, women with early
onset depression were more likely to suffer injuries as well as urinary, respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. Men, on the other hand, were
more likely to have obesity, thyroid gland problems, coeliac disease, connective tissue disorders and eczema.

Part of the association may be explained by other co-existing
psychiatric conditions, especially substance use disorder and anxiety,
which have previously been linked to risk increases for certain medical outcomes. These psychiatric conditions often appear in the same patient
and therefore more studies are needed to examine the specific effect of
each condition, according to the researchers.

"We need more research to understand the causality between depression
and other diseases," says Marica Leone, PhD candidate at the Department
of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet, and
first author of the study. "Currently, we cannot say whether depression
leads to an increased risk of negative health effects or whether there are other underlying factors that lead to increased risks for both depression
and the diseases examined in this study. Therefore, it is important
to investigate how these processes affect each other and whether we,
through discovery of these disease mechanisms, can find targets for intervention and treatment to improve overall health." The research has
been funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Some of the authors have reported conflicts of interest:
Marica Leone is an employee of Johnson & Johnson, Henrik Larsson has
received personal fees from Shire/Takeda and Evolan outside the submitted
work and Amy Leval is an employee of and owns stock in Johnson & Johnson.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Karolinska_Institutet. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Marica Leone, Ralf Kuja-Halkola, Amy Leval, Brian M. D'Onofrio,
Henrik
Larsson, Paul Lichtenstein, Sarah E. Bergen. Association of
youth depression with subsequent somatic diseases and premature
death. JAMA Psychiatry, 2020 DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.3786 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201209115213.htm

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