Mental health in patients with asthma: A population-based case-control study

This study's objectives were to compare the prevalence of mental disorders and consumption of psychiatric medications in asthmatic subjects with non-asthmatic controls and identify risk factors associated with psychiatric conditions.

This was an epidemiological case-control study based on the 2020 European Health Survey in Spain self-reported data. Each asthmatic subject was paired with a non-asthmatic control. Study variables included demographics, use of healthcare services, comorbidities, and risky behaviours were compared.

There were 22,072 participants in the survey; 1151 cases and 1151 controls were selected. The prevalence of mental disorders (25.5% versus 13.4%; p < 0.001) and consumption of psychiatric medications (25.8% versus 15.6%; p < 0.001) were higher in cases than controls. In asthmatic subjects, female gender (OR 1.814; p = 0.001), age over 80 years (OR 2.558; p = 0.002), poor self-rated health (OR 2.047; p < 0.001), visits to a psychologist (OR 10.854; p < 0.001) and chronic pain (OR 1.938; p < 0.001) were independently associated with mental disorder diagnoses. Meanwhile, female sex (OR 1.710; p < 0.001), age over 80 years (OR 3.802; p < 0.001), poor self-rated health (OR 2.482; p < 0.001), visits to a psychologist (OR 2.694; p < 0.001) and chronic pain (OR 1.494; p = 0.012) were risk factors independently associated with psychiatric medication consumption.

The prevalence of psychiatric conditions were higher in asthmatic subjects. Female gender, older age, worse self-rated health, visits to a psychologist and chronic pain were associated with psychiatric conditions in asthmatic subjects.