[Gastrointestinal comorbidity and symptoms associated with depression in patients aged over 60 years]

A study was carried out on the prevalence of gastrointestinal diagnoses and symptoms associated with depression.

A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in Primary Care in 2017. All patients aged 60 years or more with depression were included from the health care centre (N=2312), and were compared to the total patients that visited the centre from the same age group without depression (N=11049). The variables collected were age, gender and the codes for gastrointestinal symptoms and chronic conditions. These were obtained from the computerised medical files. The prevalence was calculated for both groups, and included the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

More than one-third (38.0%) of patients with depression have chronic gastrointestinal diseases, 64.7% have gastrointestinal symptoms, and 74.7% have either of them. The conditions with strongest associations are: irritable bowel syndrome OR: 2.00 (95% CI: 1.51-2.64), congenital anomaly 1.83 (1.17-2.86), other peptic ulcers 1.75 (1.28-2.40), diverticular disease 1.73 (1.52-1.97), cholecystitis/cholelithiasis 1.59 (1.36-1.86), liver disease 1.55 (1.32-1.82), viral hepatitis 1.50 (1.12-2.02), and oesophageal diseases 1.45 (1.24-1.69). Symptoms with a statistically significant OR were: anorexia 2.81 (1.75-4.50), nausea/vomiting 2.19 (1.79-2.67), constipation 1.96 (1.77-2.18), flatulence 1.78 (1.48-2.14), dysphagia 1,72 (1.30-2.28), abdominal pain 1.69 (1.57-1.82), dyspepsia 1.56 (1.30-1.87), and heartburn 1.55 (1.26-1.92).

Gastrointestinal comorbidity is very common in patients over 60 years-old with depression. Three-quarters of the patients have chronic gastrointestinal diseases or symptoms. The conditions with strongest associations are irritable bowel syndrome, congenital anomalies, other peptic ulcers, and diverticular disease. The symptoms with strongest associations are anorexia, nausea/vomiting, constipation, flatulence, dysphagia, abdominal pain, dyspepsia, and heartburn.