Data_Sheet_1_Association between chronic diseases and depression in the middle-aged and older adult Chinese population—a seven-year follow-up study based on CHARLS.docx

BackgroundWith the aging of the Chinese population, the prevalence of depression and chronic diseases is continually growing among middle-aged and older adult people. This study aimed to investigate the association between chronic diseases and depression in this population.
MethodsData from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2011–2018 longitudinal survey, a 7-years follow-up of 7,163 participants over 45 years old, with no depression at baseline (2011). The chronic disease status in our study was based on the self-report of the participants, and depression was defined by the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10). The relationship between baseline chronic disease and depression was assessed by the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression models.
ResultsAfter 7-years follow-up, 41.2% (2,951/7163, 95% CI:40.1, 42.3%) of the participants reported depression. The analysis showed that participants with chronic diseases at baseline had a higher risk of depression and that such risk increased significantly with the number of chronic diseases suffered (1 chronic disease: HR = 1.197; 2 chronic diseases: HR = 1.310; 3 and more chronic diseases: HR = 1.397). Diabetes or high blood sugar (HR = 1.185), kidney disease (HR = 1.252), stomach or other digestive diseases (HR = 1.128), and arthritis or rheumatism (HR = 1.221) all significantly increased the risk of depression in middle-aged and older adult Chinese.
ConclusionThe present study found that suffering from different degrees of chronic diseases increased the risk of depression in middle-aged and older adult people, and these findings may benefit preventing depression and improving the quality of mental health in this group.

研究背景：随着中国人口老龄化进程加剧，中老年群体中抑郁症与慢性病的患病率持续攀升。本研究旨在探讨该群体中慢性病与抑郁症之间的关联。
研究方法：本研究数据来源于《中国健康与养老追踪调查》（China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, CHARLS）2011-2018年的追踪调查，该调查对7163名基线（2011年）无抑郁症的45岁以上参与者开展了为期7年的随访。本研究中慢性病状态基于参与者自我报告判定，抑郁症则采用10项流调中心抑郁量表（Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, CES-D-10）进行定义。本研究采用Kaplan–Meier法与Cox比例风险回归模型，评估基线期慢性病与抑郁症之间的关联。
研究结果：经过7年随访，41.2%（2951/7163，95%置信区间：40.1, 42.3%）的参与者报告出现抑郁症。分析结果显示，基线期患有慢性病的参与者罹患抑郁症的风险更高，且该风险随慢性病患病人数的增加显著升高（患1种慢性病：风险比HR=1.197；患2种慢性病：HR=1.310；患3种及以上慢性病：HR=1.397）。糖尿病或高血糖（HR=1.185）、肾脏疾病（HR=1.252）、胃部或其他消化系统疾病（HR=1.128）以及关节炎或风湿病（HR=1.221）均显著升高中国中老年群体的抑郁症发病风险。
研究结论：本研究发现，罹患不同程度的慢性病会提升中老年群体的抑郁症发病风险，上述研究结果可为该群体的抑郁症预防工作及心理健康质量改善提供参考依据。