A new research states that children suffering from depression may face severe medical problems in their adult life, especially obesity and asthma.
During 20 years of research, experts found depressed teenagers under age 17 had an increased risk of obesity and asthma in later years. The scientists concentrated on adults at the age of 20 to 40.
‘You cannot see these relationships in a single patient at one time,’ said main author Gregory Hasler, a scientist at Zurich University Hospital in Switzerland. ‘This 20-year study shows that healthcare should not be something you do at one point, but something you have to have a long-term perspective on.’
Hasler examined 591 adults from Switzerland. He interviewed them about incidence of asthma, about their weight, and whether they had suffered from depressive symptoms. They were examined six times between 1978 and 1999. The experts defined obesity as BMI (body mass index) over 30.
The study was published in the International Journal of Obesity.
Experts have known that asthma, a lung disease that has increased since the 1980s and affects 20 million of Americans, is related to weight gain. Reducing weight can frequently help improve asthma symptoms for sufferers. Conversely, the disease becomes more acute in patients with increased obesity.
But, Hasler`s research finds that asthma may precede obesity in adult life, and gives evidence to the discussion that obesity does not increase the risk of asthma. However, he states not to think that asthma causes obesity. ‘This finding raises serious concerns about whether this is the whole story,’ he stated.
Men who suffered from depression in their childchood are more prone to suffer from asthma later on. Depressed women were more likely to suffer from obesity in adult life. Hasler noted that it is a strange connection, as usually obesity develops in early life, although people in general put on weight as they are older.
Hasler can merely speculate on these connections. He notes it could be genetic: e.g., the neurotransmitters in the brain that are responsible for depression also influence on obesity and asthma and that may cause a biological problem. What is more, depression in childhood may harm the mechanisms that decide the long-term development of respiratory function and body fat.
The research also did not consider lifestyle factors like diet or physical activity. But it is known that asthma can discourage people from being physically active, and depression also results in lack of energy and people just do not feel strong enough to exercise.
Moreover, asthma medicines are thought to cause weight increase, Hasler noted.
‘We have to be careful how we interpret this,’ said a psychologist at the University of Minnesota, Kerri Boutelle, who investigates the relationship between depression and obesity. Boutelle claims that the depression aspect of the research was retrospective, in the sense that the examined people were asked to recall, at age of 20, whether they felt depressed as 11 year-olds.
Hasler agreed that this can be a restriction of the study, since the subjects in the study were not diagnosed with depression officially, and instead revealed their depressive symptoms during interviews.
Obesity spreads around the world, so ‘this is one more problem associated with obesity that individuals and society will have to deal with,’ expressed Richard Atkinson, the head of the American Obesity Association. ‘As a person develops obesity and asthma, it affects your ability to work, and so it only costs the individual but also society.’
Hasler stated that the findings should remind physicians to emphasize the importance of mental health in checkups. Also, the parents should be aware that depression in childhood is a severe disease that echoes in the future.
