Multimorbidity study with different levels of depression status.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Mental Health Research

Background:

• Depression is a leading cause of disability and often co-occurs with chronic diseases.
• Limited research has explored the relationship between multimorbidity and depression, especially considering sex and age differences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the correlation between multimorbidity and depression status.
• To analyze how this correlation varies by sex and age.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 29,303 adults in the 2005-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
• Assessed depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and multimorbidity via network analysis.
• Employed logistic regressions for trend analysis and the Gamma coefficient (γ) for correlation evaluation.

Main Results:

• Prevalence of multimorbidity increased with depression severity (52.1% to 76.1%).
• A significant positive correlation (γ=0.21) was found between multimorbidity and depression.
• The correlation was stronger in females (γ=0.23) than males (γ=0.16) and in younger/middle-aged adults (γ=0.30/0.29) compared to older adults (γ=0.22).

Conclusions:

• A positive association exists between multimorbidity and depression.
• The number of chronic conditions rises with depression severity.
• This correlation is particularly pronounced in females and younger to middle-aged individuals.