News Headlines: Depression
Study Finds Connection Between Obesity and Depression
Even a Little Activity Boosts Mental Health
Insomnia Contributes to Long-Term Depression
Anxiety and Depression Linked to Smoking and Obesity
Doctors Should Watch for Depression in RA Patients
Depression More Common in Older Women than Men
Study Find Sex Differences in Brain’s Mood Regulators
Music Therapy May Offer Hope for People with Depression
Study Shows Depression Is a Risk Factor for Osteoporosis
Non-Invasive, Non-Drug Therapy Helps Depression
Test May Allow Doctors to Personalize Depression Treatment
Arthritis Plus Depression Equals Serious Health Threat
Study Finds Connection Between Obesity and Depression
If arthritis is making you feel down, be careful not to use food to boost your mood. A new study shows that people who are depressed are likely to become obese and that, conversely, people who are obese are likely to become depressed.
To understand the potential links between obesity and depression, researchers led by Sarah M. Markowitz, of
People who are obese may be more likely to become depressed because they perceive themselves as in poor health and are dissatisfied with their appearance. This occurrence was particularly prevalent among women and those of high socio-economic status, the study found.
People who are depressed may be more likely to become obese because of physiological changes in their hormone and immune systems that occur in depression. Also, they have more difficulty taking good care of themselves because of symptoms and consequences of depression, such as difficulty adhering to fitness regiments, overeating, and having negative thoughts.
Treatments such as exercise and stress reduction can help to manage both obesity and depression at the same time, say the authors. Potentially, dieting, which can worsen mood, and antidepressants, which can cause weight gain, should be minimized.
"The treatment of depression and obesity should be integrated," the authors conclude. "This way, healthcare providers are working together to treat both conditions, rather than each in isolation."
The review was published in Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice.
Even a Little Activity Boosts Mental Health
If you’ve been looking long and hard for an exercise program to boost your mood, a new study offers good news: you don’t have to exercise long and/or hard to notice the benefits of physical activity. In fact, as little as 20 minutes of any physical activity per week is enough to boost mental health.
Although regular physical activity is thought to be associated with better mental health, there is a lack of consensus regarding the optimal amount and type of activity to achieve these benefits, say researchers at University College in London who reported their findings in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
The researchers examined the association between mental health and physical activity behaviors among a representative sample of 19,842 men and women from the Scottish Health Surveys. They identified psychological distress, as gauged by responses to a questionnaire, in 3,200 of the participants. Any form of physical activity – including housework, gardening, walking and sports – was associated with lower levels of distress.
While the study offers good news for those who are minimally active, it also offers an incentive for them the minimally active to exercise more. The results show that while a minimum of 20 minutes improved mental health, a high level of activity decreased the chance of psychological distress even more. 4/18/08
Insomnia Contributes to Long-Term Depression
Research has shown that the inability to sleep well at night is a risk factor for a depressive episode. Now research shows that in older people persistent insomnia can increase the risk of staying depressed.
In a study of 1,801 elderly patients with major depressive disorder and/or dysthymia (chronic, low-grade depression) who completed a prior clinical trial for treating depression, Wilfred R. Pigeon, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., found that patients with persistent insomnia were 1.8 to 3.5 times more likely to remain depressed, compared with patients with no insomnia. The findings were more robust in patients receiving usual care for depression than in patients receiving enhanced care. The findings were also stronger in subjects who had major depressive disorder as opposed to those with dysthymia alone.
"Even when depression was identified and treated in the primary care setting, the older adults in this study were more likely to remain depressed if they also exhibited persistent insomnia,” says Pigeon. “The finding that this risk was higher in the usual-care group suggests that enhanced depression care may partially mitigate the perpetuating effects of insomnia on depression."
He says that while the findings make intuitive sense, until relatively recently insomnia was often considered a symptom that dissipated without active intervention once a primary condition like depression was treated, instead of being considered a distinct clinical entity that might affect a primary disorder.
Anxiety and Depression Linked to Smoking and Obesity
People who suffer from depression or anxiety are much more likely to be obese and to smoke — both major risk factors for chronic disease — according to a large nationwide study.
The study, in the March/April issue of the journal General Hospital Psychiatry, compiled data from more than 200,000 adults who participated in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a large telephone survey that monitors the prevalence of key health behaviors.
About 8.7 percent of the respondents had current depression, 15.7 percent had a previous depression diagnosis and 11.3 percent had had an anxiety diagnosis at some time.
People with current depression or a previous diagnosis of depression were 60 percent more likely to be obese and twice as likely to smoke as those who were not depressed, the research found. Those with an anxiety disorder were 30 percent more likely to be obese and twice as likely to smoke as those without anxiety were. The study also said that those with depression and anxiety were more likely to be physically inactive and to be binge or heavy drinkers.
Because chronic diseases are risk factors for depression, the study’s authors say the health care system must be attuned to recognizing and treating the depression that often coexists with chronic diseases. 3/10/08
Doctors Should Watch For Depression In Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are twice as likely to experience depression, but are unlikely to talk to a doctor about it, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In a new study published in this month's issue of Arthritis Care & Research, researchers found that almost 11 percent of RA patients had moderately severe to severe symptoms of depression. The study also found that only one in five of the patients who showed symptoms of depression discussed it with their rheumatologists. Those who did were always the ones to bring up the topic, not the physician. When depression was brought up, it was often not discussed at any length.
Why not? Because when patients visit their specialist, their arthritis is understandably their main focus, says Betsy Sleath, PhD, the study’s lead author. But rheumatologists should consider addressing both RA and depression when they see their patients.
"Chronic diseases can greatly affect a patient's psychosocial well-being, and depression can also affect a patient's adherence to treatment regimens," Sleath says. "Since many arthritis patients see their rheumatologist more often then their primary-care physician, we recommend that rheumatologists take steps to screen patients for signs of depression." 2/22/08
Depression More Common in Older Women than Men
Older women are more likely to become depressed and remain depressed than older men, but less likely to die while depressed, according to a recent study of 750 older adults reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Study participants, who were 70 and older at the start of the study, provided demographic information, took cognitive tests, and reported any medical conditions at the beginning of the study and every 18 months over a period of 72 months. There was a preliminary screening for symptoms of depression during the previous week such as lack of appetite, feeling sad, or problems related to sleep.
The analysis revealed that after controlling for demographic traits, "women had a higher likelihood of transitioning from non-depressed to depressed and a lower likelihood of transitioning from depressed to non-depressed or death." About 35.7 percent of the participants were depressed at some point. More women than men were depressed at each 18-month evaluation, and women were more likely than men to experience depression at later follow-ups.
Authors say their findings provide strong evidence that depression is not only more common in older women, but also more persistent. However, women are more likely to receive medication or other treatments for depression. They say future research should focus on whether or not women are less likely to respond to conventional treatment or they receive different treatment than men for late-life depression.
Study Finds Sex Differences in Brain's Mood Regulators
A new study out of the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet shows that the brain’s serotonin system differs between men and women, which could help explain why depression and chronic anxiety are more common in women than in men.
A research group at the institute has shown using a PET scanner that women and men are different in terms of the number of binding sites for serotonin – a brain neurotransmitter that is critical to mood and emotional well being – in certain parts of the brain.
They found that women have a greater number of the most common serotonin receptors than men. They also showed that women have lower levels of the protein that transports serotonin back into the nerve cells that secrete it. It is this protein blocked by the most common antidepressants, selective serotonin receptor inhibitors (SSRIs).
“We don’t know exactly what this means, but the results can help us understand why the occurrence of depression differs between the sexes and why men and women sometimes respond differently to treatment with antidepressant drugs,” says associate professor Anna-Lena Nordström, who led the study.
The group has also shown that the serotonin system in healthy women differs from that in women with serious premenstrual mental symptoms. These results suggest that the serotonin system in such women does not respond as flexibly to the hormone swings of the menstrual cycle as that in symptom-free women.
“These findings indicate that when developing antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs, scientists should evaluate their effect on men and women separately, as well as their effects before and after menopause,” says Nordström. 2/18/08
Music Therapy May Offer Hope for People with Depression
Treatment for depression usually consists of medications and psychotherapy. A Systematic Review from The Cochrane Library suggests that music therapy may also help some patients fight depression and improve, restore and maintain their health.
After searching the international literature, Cochrane researchers identified five studies that met their criteria. Four of these reported greater reduction in symptoms of depression among people who had been given music therapy than those who had been randomly assigned to a therapy group that did not involve music. The fifth study, however, did not find this effect.
“While the evidence came from a few small studies, it suggests that this is an area that is well worth further investigation and, if the use of music therapy is supported by future trials, we need to find out which forms have greatest effect,” says lead author Anna Maratos, an arts therapist who works in the Central and Northwest London Foundation NHS Trust, London, UK.
“The current studies indicate that music therapy may be able to improve mood and has low drop-out rates,” says Maratos. She stresses that because there are only a small number of relatively low quality studies this area, researchers can only be confident about the effectiveness of music therapy once some high-quality trials have been conducted.
Study Shows Depression Is a Risk Factor for Osteoporosis
A new study adds depression to the list of risk factors for bone loss. The study, published in the Nov, 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine shows that premenopausal women with even mild depression have less bone mass than do their non-depressed peers. In fact, the level of bone loss is at least as high as that associated with recognized risk factors for osteoporosis, including smoking, low calcium intake and lack of physical activity, according to the study.
The study, which compared the bone density of 89 depressed women and 44 nondepressed women between the ages of 21 and 45, found the hip bones – the site of frequent fractures among older people – were among those showing the most thinning in the depressed women.
There was no significant link between the degree of bone loss and the severity of depression or the cumulative number of depressive episodes, the researchers found. The depressed women had been diagnosed with mild depression and were having, or had recently had, a depressive episode.
The researchers say clinicians should be aware of depression as a major risk factor for osteoporosis when evaluating and counseling women about the disease.
Non-Invasive, Non-Drug Therapy Helps Depression
People with major depression that has not responded to conventional antidepressant medications may benefit from a non-drug therapy called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), according to a large-scale study reported in the journal Biological Psychiatry.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a non-invasive technique that stimulates nerve cells in the brain via magnetic pulses introduced through a large electromagnetic coil placed on the scalp.
The participants involved in the study were patients with depression who had not responded to prior antidepressants, and who were not taking antidepressant medications during the study. Approximately half were given TMS while the other half received a placebo procedure. After four to six weeks of “treatment,” responses varied greatly between the two groups. Remission rates for the actual TMS group were approximately twice those for the placebo.
Furthermore, TMS was well tolerated. It required no anesthesia or hospitalization.
Test May Allow Doctors to Personalize Depression Treatment
Although there are many drugs to treat depression, finding the drug that will work best for you can take time and trial and error. A new study, published in the journal Biological Psychiatry shows that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can help predict how effective various treatments are likely to be.
The study showed that greater grey matter volume in certain areas of the brain predicted more rapid and complete improvement during treatment with antidepressants. Greater activity in the front of the brain prior to treatment also predicted clinical improvement.
The authors say the rate of symptom improvement in depressed patients treated with antidepressant drugs can be predicted by brain scanning before treatment begins.
Arthritis Plus Depression Equals Serious Health Threat
If you have arthritis, you know that the pain and limitations the disease can bring can make it hard to stay upbeat. But if you find yourself slipping into a blue mood that you can’t shake or that interferes with your ability to function, a new study underscores the importance of seeking help. The depression that can accompany arthritis – or any chronic disease, for that matter – may have worse effects on your health than having another chronic condition such as diabetes, angina or asthma.
Using health data from 245,404 people worldwide, researchers at the World Health Organization determined the prevalence of several chronic diseases. They found that depression has the largest effect on worsening health compared to the other diseases they looked at. But the worst effect was seen in people who had depression in addition another chronic disease. Furthermore, they found that 4.1 percent of people with arthritis had had a depressive episode in the previous year, compared to 2 percent of those with diabetes and 3.3 percent with asthma – making treatment for depression a key health concern for people with arthritis.
Scientists Develop Fast-Acting Antidepressant
If you’re in physical pain, medication can start to improve your symptoms in as quickly as 30 minutes, but if you suffer from depression, your medicine may leave you waiting as six weeks to experience improvement. Now researchers may have found a way to reduce the wait, with a new class of antidepressant drugs called serotonin4 (5-HT4) receptor agonists. The new drugs may take effect four to seven times faster than traditional selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), Canadian researchers report in The Lancet.
SSRIs work by improving the available concentration of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain, while serotonin4 receptor agonists act directly on the nerve impulses of serotonin neurons. In the study, rats on two different serotonin4 receptor agonists showed marked improvements in symptoms of chronic depression after only three days and were symptom-free after a week.
The new findings are particularly promising as research continues to documents the health risks of untreated depression.
Genes May Explain Link Between Loneliness and Health Problems
Feeling lonely? A new study suggests your genes, even more than your social support system or life circumstances, may be to blame. The study, published in the Sept. 13 issue of the journal Genome Biology, supports a genetic connection between feelings of isolation and poor health.
In the study, researchers at three
Their findings suggest that feelings of social isolation are linked to changes in gene expression that drive inflammation, one of the first responses of the immune system to infection and injury. Inflammation is also a hallmark of many forms of arthritis.
Scientists have long known that social environments affect health. The researchers’ hope is that their study gives a framework for understanding how social factors and increased risk of disease are linked.
To Stay Healthy, Be Happy
If you want to be healthy, make an effort to do things that make you happy. British researchers found that lab tests of people who reported the greatest number of happy moments through the day showed lower levels of harmful chemicals than people who reported less happiness. Levels of the stress hormone cortisol, for example, were 32 percent lower in happy people. Cortisol has been related to a number of health problems including abdominal obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and even autoimmune disease. Happy people also had lower levels of plasma fibrinogen, a protein in the bloodstream that signals inflammation and is an indicator of heart attack risk.
While it makes sense that happier people are healthier physically and mentally, this research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, helps confirm it and shows there are plausible biological pathways linking happiness with health. 8/29/07
