Associations among probiotic/prebiotic consumption, depression and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A...

The potential therapeutic effect of probiotic/prebiotic on depression remains a concern. Our study aimed to explore the relationship between probiotic/prebiotic consumption and the severity of depressive symptoms and to further analyze the potential mediating role of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in this association. The study included 5025 individuals with depression who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2009 and 2018. Weighted multiple logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the associations between probiotic/prebiotic intake and the severity of depressive symptoms, between COPD and severity of depressive symptoms, and between probiotic/prebiotic consumption and COPD. In addition, we also carried out hierarchical, mediation and sensitivity analyses. Our results revealed that probiotic/prebiotic consumption is negatively associated with the severity of depressive symptoms, and subgroup analyses and interaction tests revealed that this relationship is stable. We also found a positive correlation between COPD and the severity of depressive symptoms and a negative correlation between probiotic/prebiotic consumption and COPD. Further mediation analysis revealed that COPD weakly mediated the effect of probiotic/prebiotic consumption on the severity of depressive symptoms (mediation effect: 2.30%). These findings reveal that probiotic/prebiotic consumption is associated with a reduction in the severity of depressive symptoms, and the presence of COPD comorbidity should be taken into account in the nutritional management of depression.