Increased risk of chronic liver disease in patients with major depressive disorder: A population-based study

This study investigated the prevalence and incidence of chronic liver disease in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), and aimed to identify associated factors.

Data of 766,427 adult subjects aged ≥18 years were randomly selected from the National Health Research Institute database from the year 2005. The study first searched for subjects with at least one primary diagnosis of MDD in 2005, and then for those with a primary or secondary diagnosis of chronic liver disease were also identified. The differences in the prevalence of chronic liver disease and its associated factors between patients with MDD and the general population in 2005 were then analyzed. We also compared the incidence of chronic liver disease in patients with MDD and in the general population from 2006 to 2010.

The prevalence of chronic liver disease in patients with MDD was 2.27 times as high as that of the general population in 2005 (12.4% vs. 5.8%; odds ratio (OR) = 2.27; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.07-2.48). The average annual incidence of chronic liver disease in patients with MDD during 2006-2010 was also higher than that of the general population (2.6% vs. 1.7%; risk ratio (RR) = 1.52; 95% CI = 1.37-1.7).

Patients with MDD had a significantly higher prevalence and incidence of chronic liver disease than the general population. Among patients with MDD, an older age, the male sex, diabetes, hyperlipidemia and first-generation antipsychotic use were factors associated with chronic liver disease.