Depressed women at risk of developing multiple chronic diseases

Washington DC: Depression and chronic diseases share a similar genetic or biological path. A recent study suggests that women with symptoms of depression may develop several chronic diseases.

The results suggest that women who had symptoms of depression, even without a clinical diagnosis, were at risk of developing several chronic diseases.

"Nowadays, many people suffer from multiple chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.We have examined the evolution of women in the development of these chronic diseases before and after the onset of depressive symptoms, "said Xiaolin Xu one of the main researchers.

As part of the study, researchers followed middle-aged women with no previous diagnosis of depression or chronic disease over 20 years.

The study found that 43.2% of women had high depression symptoms and just under half of the cohort reported being diagnosed or treated for depression.

The findings were published in the Journal of the American Psychological Health Psychology Association.

Women in the depressed group were 1.8 times more likely to have multiple chronic health conditions before the first manifestation of depressive symptoms.

"The experience of depressive symptoms seems to increase the risk of chronic disease," Xu said.

According to the findings, once women began to experience these symptoms, they were 2.4 times more likely to have multiple chronic conditions than women with no depressive symptoms.

Research suggests that depression and chronic diseases share a similar genetic or biological pathway.

Women with both conditions were more likely to be in low-income households, to be overweight and inactive, to smoke tobacco and to drink alcohol.

The researchers have suggested that maintaining a healthy weight, regular exercise, a balanced diet and reducing harmful behaviors could help prevent and slow the progression of multiple chronic diseases.