Depressive symptoms and mortality-findings from Helsinki birth cohort study

Abstract

<div lang="en" class="abs"><p class="abs_header">Abstract</p><p><em>Background:</em> Individuals with depression and depressive symptoms have a higher mortality rate than non-depressed individuals. The increased comorbidity and mortality associated with depression has remained largely unexplained. The underlying pathophysiological differences between depressive subtypes, melancholic and non-melancholic, may provide some explanation to this phenomenon.</p><p><em>Methods:</em> One thousand nine hundred and ninety five participants (mean age 61 years) from the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study were recruited for this prospective study and followed up for a mean of 14.1 years. Information regarding medical history, lifestyle, and biochemical parameters were obtained. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory. Standardized mortality ratios were calculated.</p><p><em>Results:</em> Participants were followed up for a total of 28,044 person-years. The melancholic depressive group had an increased adjusted risk of mortality [HR 1.49 (95% CI: 1.02–2.20)] when compared to the non-depressive group. Comparing mortality to the whole population of Finland using standardized mortality ratios (SMR) both the non-melancholic [1.11 (95% CI: 0.85–1.44)] and melancholic depressive [1.26 (95% CI: 0.87–1.81)] groups had higher mortality than the non-depressive group [0.82 (95% CI: 0.73–0.93)].</p><p><em>Conclusions:</em> Melancholic depressive symptoms are most strongly related to a higher mortality risk.</p></div>