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Asthma symptoms associated with depression and lower quality of life: a population survey
Author(s) -
Goldney Robert D,
Ruffin Richard,
Wilson David H,
Fisher Laura J
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2003.tb05285.x
Subject(s) - asthma , medicine , depression (economics) , quality of life (healthcare) , comorbidity , population , morning , psychiatry , physical therapy , environmental health , nursing , economics , macroeconomics
Objective: To identify any association between asthma and depression and quality of life. Design and setting: A face‐to‐face Health Omnibus Survey of a random and representative sample of the South Australian population in August 1998. Participants: 3010 randomly selected participants aged 15 years and over. Main outcome measures: Prevalence of doctor‐diagnosed asthma, and scores for depression (measured by PRIME‐MD instrument) and quality of life (measured by SF‐36) in affected participants. Results: The prevalence of asthma was 9.9%. The prevalence of major depression was significantly higher for those who experienced dyspnoea, wakening at night with asthma, and morning symptoms of asthma. Quality‐of‐life scores were also lower for the same groups. Conclusions: Depression is a serious but potentially remediable comorbidity with asthma that may affect appropriate diagnosis and outcome.