Severity of allergic complaints: the importance of depressed mood

To evaluate the prevalence of depressive symptoms in patients with different kinds of allergic diseases and the connection of depressive symptoms with the severity, type and seasonality of allergic complaints.

Data was obtained via a cross-sectional multicenter questionnaire survey of 528 patients aged 16-60 years attending six regional in- and outpatient allergy clinics in Hungary in June to July 1998. Consecutive patients completed a structured, self-administered questionnaire containing questions about their current and past allergic complaints. Depressive symptoms were measured by the Shortened Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

32.2% of patients scored above the normal level (> or =10) and 12.5% had clinically significant depressive symptomatology (> or =19) by the BDI. These rates were significantly higher than those found in the control group from a national representative population sample (22.4% and 8.3%). Patients with asthma and with perennial symptoms had significantly higher depression scores than patients with other types of allergic diseases. There was a significant association between the severity of depressive symptoms and the severity of allergic complaints independently from age, sex, type and seasonality of the allergic disease, and other current physical illnesses and symptoms tested by the General Linear Model (GLM).

Our results draw attention that patients even with mild depressive symptoms have significantly more severe allergic complaints and assess general health state as much worse than those without depressive symptoms in any types of allergic diseases. Diagnosis and treatment of depressive symptoms in allergic patients is of great concern from both a clinical and an economical point of view.