Depression: a health risk

by Dr Norman Swan

Compared to other chronic illnesses like angina, asthma, diabetes and arthritis, depression reduces health the most.

06 11 2007

Some people argue that depression is as significant a risk factor for heart disease as cholesterol. That may or may not be the case, but a recent study has found that if you look at overall health and wellbeing and compare depression to other chronic illnesses like angina, asthma, diabetes and arthritis, depression reduces health the most.

The information comes from the World Health Survey, involving information from mostly face-to-face interviews with about a quarter of a million people in 60 countries.

The survey found out what diseases the people had, and how much their medical problems detracted from their health.

If you had one of asthma, diabetes, arthritis or angina your health status dropped about 20 per cent. But depression was associated with a fall of 30 per cent.

If you had two of the physical conditions your health also dropped by about 30 per cent. But if you had two physical conditions plus depression then your health status almost halved.

And there was a strong link between being physically unwell and the likelihood of being depressed at the same time.

The implication is that fixing depression could make a bigger difference to people's wellbeing than some experts might have thought.