TY - JOUR
T1 - Mental health and asthma in China
T2 - The Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study
AU - Jiang, Chao Qiang
AU - Loerbroks, Adrian
AU - Lam, Kin Bong Hubert
AU - Bosch, Jos A.
AU - Thomas, G. Neil
AU - Zhang, Wei Sen
AU - Cheng, Kar Keung
AU - Lam, Tai Hing
AU - Adab, Peymané
PY - 2013/6
Y1 - 2013/6
N2 - Background: There is consistent evidence of the co-occurrence of poor mental health and asthma in Western populations. Since the experience and expression of mental health is partly culturally determined, it is of interest to examine if similar associations are found in other cultural settings. In that regard, very little is known about the association between mental health and asthma in Asian countries, such as China. Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mental health and asthma in a large sample from China. Method: We used data from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study phase 3 (n = 9,280). Participants reported physician-diagnosed asthma. Mental health measures included the 15-item Chinese version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-C) and the SF-12 Mental Component Summary (MCS) score. We compared the prevalence of asthma by GDS-C and MCS scores by estimating prevalence ratios (PRs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), using Poisson regression. Results: Compared to those without depression, the prevalence of asthma was higher in those with moderate or severe depression levels (PR = 2.63, 95% CI = 1.58-4.40 and PR = 4.43, 95% CI = 1.62-12.09, p for trend ≤0.0001). The prevalence of asthma increased by 46% with every 1 standard deviation increase of the GDS-C score (PR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.24-1.73). The MCS score was not associated with asthma. Conclusion: Depressive symptoms were associated with asthma prevalence in a Chinese population. Further research into the mechanism and potential directions of causality is warranted.
AB - Background: There is consistent evidence of the co-occurrence of poor mental health and asthma in Western populations. Since the experience and expression of mental health is partly culturally determined, it is of interest to examine if similar associations are found in other cultural settings. In that regard, very little is known about the association between mental health and asthma in Asian countries, such as China. Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mental health and asthma in a large sample from China. Method: We used data from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study phase 3 (n = 9,280). Participants reported physician-diagnosed asthma. Mental health measures included the 15-item Chinese version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-C) and the SF-12 Mental Component Summary (MCS) score. We compared the prevalence of asthma by GDS-C and MCS scores by estimating prevalence ratios (PRs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI), using Poisson regression. Results: Compared to those without depression, the prevalence of asthma was higher in those with moderate or severe depression levels (PR = 2.63, 95% CI = 1.58-4.40 and PR = 4.43, 95% CI = 1.62-12.09, p for trend ≤0.0001). The prevalence of asthma increased by 46% with every 1 standard deviation increase of the GDS-C score (PR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.24-1.73). The MCS score was not associated with asthma. Conclusion: Depressive symptoms were associated with asthma prevalence in a Chinese population. Further research into the mechanism and potential directions of causality is warranted.
KW - Asthma
KW - China
KW - Depression
KW - Epidemiology
KW - Mental health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84877925397&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84877925397&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12529-012-9222-9
DO - 10.1007/s12529-012-9222-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 22297917
AN - SCOPUS:84877925397
SN - 1070-5503
VL - 20
SP - 259
EP - 264
JO - International Journal of Behavioral Medicine
JF - International Journal of Behavioral Medicine
IS - 2
ER -