| The association between atopic disorders and depression: The Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort Study | ||
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While assessing whether depression, in general, is associated with atopy, each cohort member was asked if he/she had ever been treated or diagnosed by a doctor for depression. The likelihood of depression among skin prick test positive cohort members when compared with skin-test negative ones is presented in Table 2 (II: Table 1). The result showed that 6.9% of all females with positive prick tests had been suffering from depression sometime during their lifetime, while the corresponding percentage for females with negative prick test was 4.3%. When in addition to a positive skin test response, also self-reported allergic symptoms were taken into account in defining the presence of atopy, the probability of depression in females increased from 1.8 (95% CI 1.2–2.6) to 2.7-fold (95% CI 1.6–4.6). Among males, there were no statistically significant differences in the proportions of depression (3.0% and 2.9%) in atopic and non-atopic males, respectively (Table 2; II: Table 1).
Table 2. Associations between prick tested atopies and self-administered information of doctor-diagnosed lifetime depression in the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort. (II: Table 1).
| Gender and atopy | n | Depressed n (%) | Unadjusted OR (95% CI) | Adjusted OR (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | ||||
| Prick test positive | 904 | 27 (3.0) | 1.0 (0.6–1.6) | 0.9* (0.5–1.6) |
| Prick test negative | 1817 | 53 (2.9) | Reference | Reference |
| Women | ||||
| Prick test positive | 750 | 52 (6.9) | 1.6 (1.1–2.3) | 1.8** (1.2–2.6) |
| Prick test negative | 1957 | 85 (4.3) | Reference | Reference |
| *Adjusting variables were father’s social class, mother’s parity, and place of residence in 1966, and cohort member’s hospital-diagnosed psychiatric disease. **Adjusting variables were father’s social class, mother’s parity, and place of residence in 1966, and cohort member’s hospital-diagnosed psychiatric disease, use of oral contraceptives, and at least one pregnancy before the age of 32. | ||||