Childhood-onset depression and newly diagnosed chronic diseases after age 65: a large longitudinal cohort study

The long-term risk of childhood-onset depression (diagnosed depression before age 16) on chronic diseases in the elderly aged 65 years and above was unclear. The aim of present study is to investigate the association between childhood-onset depression and newly diagnosed chronic diseases after age 65.

12,314 respondents' data were from fifteen waves (1992-2018) of the Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (HRS). The association was estimated using the RR (risk ratio) and their 95% CI (confident interval). The chronic disease outcomes included eight chronic diseases (Hypertension, Diabetes, Cancer, Chronic lung disease, Heart problems, Stroke, Emotional/psychiatric problem, Arthritis) newly diagnosed after age 65.

The findings showed that after age 65, the risk of having newly diagnosed chronic diseases was significantly higher in people with childhood-onset depression than without it (RR 1.31, 95% CI 1.12-1.52 p < 0.01), and the newly diagnosed of two specific chronic diseases including chronic lung diseases (RR 1.53, 95% CI 1.04-2.16, p-value (Bonferroni) = 0.002) and emotional/psychiatric problem (RR 2.17, 95% CI 1.34-3.31, p-value (Bonferroni) = 0.006) (P < 0.05/8 is significant) after age 65 were found to be significantly associated with childhood-onset depression.

Childhood-onset depression would increase the risk of newly diagnosed chronic diseases, specifically chronic lung diseases, and emotional/psychiatric problem in the elderly. Future clinical research and health policy should be targeted at the root cause to explore the causal pathway between childhood-onset depression and later-life chronic diseases.