Mental health and asthma in China: the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study.
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.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mental health and asthma in a large sample from China.


METHODS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
Depressive symptoms were associated with asthma prevalence in a Chinese population. Further research into the mechanism and potential directions of causality is warranted.
Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Social and Preventive Medicine, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
Chao Qiang
CQ
Jiang
Adrian
A
Loerbroks
Kin-bong Hubert
KB
Lam
Jos A
JA
Bosch
G Neil
GN
Thomas
Wei Sen
WS
Zhang
Kar Keung
KK
Cheng
Tai Hing
TH
Lam
Peymané
P
Adab
D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence