Original Article  Open Access


Allergy Asthma Respir Dis. 2015 May;3(3):173-179. Korean.
Published online May 29, 2015.  https://doi.org/10.4168/aard.2015.3.3.173
© 2015 The Korean Academy of Pediatric Allergy and Respiratory Disease; The Korean Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Clinical Immunology
Association between asthma and depression in Korean adults
Yeo Jin Kim,1 Jeoung Eun Kim,2 and Ju Suk Lee1
1Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Changwon Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Changwon, Korea.
2Department of Internal Medicine, Samsung Changwon Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Changwon, Korea.

Correspondence to: Ju Suk Lee. Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Changwon Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 158 Paryong-ro, Masanhoewon-gu, Changwon 630-723, Korea. Tel: +82-55-290-6045, Fax: +82-55-290-6044, Email: ljs8952194@lycos.co.kr
Received January 16, 2015; Revised March 28, 2015; Accepted March 30, 2015.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/).


Abstract

Purpose

Asthma is one of the most common allergic diseases in which depression is an important comorbidity. However, little is known about the prevalence of depression in Korean adult asthmatics. This study was performed to evaluate the association between asthma and depression and to investigate the clinical characteristics of Korean adult asthmatics with depression.

Methods

Data were acquired from 18,066 men and women, aged older than 19 years who participated in the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, which was conducted from 2010 to 2012. The presence of asthma was based on self-reported physician diagnosis of asthma in the Health Interview Surveys.

Results

The prevalence of asthma was 3.2%, and that of depression was 4.2%. In univariate analysis, adults with asthma were old age, marital status, unemployment, low education, low monthly family income, low number of household members, obesity (P<0.05) were significantly associated with asthma, but sex, residence area, and smoking status were not associated with asthma. The prevalence of hypertension and depression were higher in asthmatics (P<0.05), while diabetes mellitus was not associated with asthma. After adjustment for age, marital status, number of household members, monthly family income, body mass index, hypertension, unemployment, low educated status, and depression were associated with the higher prevalence of asthma (P<0.01). Depression was associated with female sex, unemployment, while it was not associated with lung function in asthmatics.

Conclusion

The results of this study show that depression may be an important risk factor for asthma in Korean adults. Further studies are needed to explore mechanisms responsible for the association between depression and asthma.

Keywords: Asthma; Depression; Respiratory function tests

Tables


Table 1
Demographic characteristics of subjects (n= 18,066)
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Table 2
Demographic characteristics according to the presence of asthma(n= 18,066)
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Table 3
Adjusted odds ratio (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the prevalence of asthma
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Table 4
Demographic characteristics of asthma with and without depression (n= 587)
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Table 5
Lung function of asthma with and without depression (n=587)
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