5.3. Hospital-treated atopic disorders and depression

When the most severe manifestation of both atopic and depressive disorders were examined, the results (Table 4) showed that hospital-treated atopic disorders increased the probability of hospital-treated depression up to three-fold (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.4–6.6) after controlling for gender and sociodemographic characteristics of the cohort members (I: Table 1).

Table 4. The association between hospital-treated atopic disorders and hospital-treated depression among the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort members and their sociodemographic factors (I: Table 1).

VariablesDepression (n = 64)No mental disorders (n = 10423)Adjusted Odds ratio*
n%n%OR (95% CI)
Atopic disease in FHDR
Yes710.94124.03.0 (1.4–6.6)
No (reference)5789.11001196.0 
Sociodemographic factors
Sex
Male 3554.7526250.51.2 (0.7–1.9)
Female (reference)2945.3516149.5 
Paternal social class in 1966
Lower 5179.7764573.32.5 (0.6–10.2)
Farmers1117.2202019.41.9 (0.4–8.7)
Upper (reference)23.17587.3 
Dwelling place 1980
Urban4062.5446742.91.3 (0.8–2.1)
Rural (reference)2437.5595657.1 
*Variables in logistic regression: Sex, father’s social class in 1966, dwelling place in 1980, and atopic disease according to the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register (FHDR). Dependent variable: Depression vs. no mental disorders according to the FHDR.