Depressive symptoms in spouses of older patients with severe sepsis

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether spouses of patients with severe sepsis are at increased risk for depression independent of the spouse's presepsis history, whether this risk differs by sex, and is associated with a sepsis patient's disability after hospitalization. DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal cohort study. SETTING: Population-based cohort of U.S. adults over 50 yrs old interviewed as part of the Health and Retirement Study (1993-2008). PATIENTS: Nine hundred twenty-nine patient-spouse dyads comprising 1,212 hospitalizations for severe sepsis. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Severe sepsis was identified using a validated algorithm in Medicare claims. Depression was assessed with a modified version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. All analyses were stratified by gender. The prevalence of substantial depressive symptoms in wives of patients with severe sepsis increased by 14 percentage points at the time of severe sepsis (from 20% at a median of 1.1 yrs presepsis to 34% at a median of 1 yr postsepsis) with an odds ratio of 3.74 (95% confidence interval: 2.20, 6.37), in multivariable regression. Husbands had an 8 percentage point increase in the prevalence of substantial depressive symptoms, which was not significant in multivariable regression (odds ratio 1.90, 95% confidence interval 0.75, 4.71). The increase in depression was not explained by bereavement; women had greater odds of substantial depressive symptoms even when their spouse survived a severe sepsis hospitalization (odds ratio 2.86, 95% confidence interval 1.06, 7.73). Wives of sepsis survivors who were disabled were more likely to be depressed (odds ratio 1.35 per activities of daily living limitation of sepsis survivor, 95% confidence interval 1.12, 1.64); however, controlling for patient disability only slightly attenuated the association between sepsis and wives' depression (odds ratio 2.61, 95% confidence interval 0.93, 7.38). CONCLUSIONS: Older women may be at greater risk for depression if their spouse is hospitalized for severe sepsis. Spouses of patients with severe sepsis may benefit from greater support and depression screening, both when their loved one dies and when their loved one survives.NIH K08 HL091249/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States KL2 RR025015-05/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/United States R01 AG030155/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States U01 AG09740/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United StatesPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93628/1/12.Davydow.CCM.Sepsis.Spouses.pd

Effect of Depression and Diabetes Mellitus on the Risk for Dementia:A National Population-Based Cohort Study

IMPORTANCE: Although depression and type 2 diabetes may independently increase dementia risk, no studies have examined whether the risk of dementia among people with both is higher than the sum of each individually. OBJECTIVE: To examine risk of all-cause dementia among persons with depression, diabetes or both compared to those with neither. DESIGN: A population-based cohort study of 2,454,532 adults, including 477,133 (19.4%) with depression, 223,174 (9.1%) with diabetes and 95,691 (3.9%) with both. SETTING: Denmark PARTICIPANTS: All dementia-free Danish citizens ≥50 years old between January 1, 2007 through 2013. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Dementia was ascertained by physician diagnosis from the Danish National Patient Register, the Danish Psychiatric Central Register (DPCR), and/or prescription of a cholinesterase inhibitor or memantine from the Danish National Prescription Registry (DNPR). Depression was ascertained by psychiatrist diagnosis from the DPCR or antidepressant prescription from the DNPR. Diabetes was identified using the Danish National Diabetes Register. The risk of all-cause dementia associated with diabetes, depression or both was estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression models that adjusted for potential confounding factors such as demographics and potential intermediates such as medical comorbidity. RESULTS: During 13,834,645 million person-years of follow-up, 59,663 (2.4%) developed dementia of whom 6,466 (10.8%) had diabetes, 15,729 (26.4%) had depression and 4,022 (6.7%) had both. The adjusted hazard ratio of developing all-cause dementia was 1.83 (95% confidence interval: 1.80, 1.87) for persons with depression, 1.20 (95% CI: 1.17, 1.23) for persons with diabetes, and 2.17 (95% CI: 2.10, 2.24) for those with both as compared to those with neither. The excess risk of all-cause dementia observed for individuals with comorbid depression and diabetes surpassed the summed risk associated with the two individually, especially for younger persons. The corresponding Attributable Proportion due to the interaction of comorbid depression and diabetes was 0.25 (95% CI = 0.13, 0.36; P<0.001) for those under 65 years old and 0.06 (95% CI = 0.02, 0.10; P=0.001) for those over 65. CONCLUSIONS: Depression and diabetes were independently associated with greater dementia risk and the combined association of the two disorders with risk of all-cause dementia was stronger than additive

Antidepressant Medication Treatment and Risk of Death

OBJECTIVE: Although previous studies have assessed whether depression is a mortality risk factor, few have examined whether antidepressant medications (ADMs) influence mortality risk. METHODS: We estimated hazards of 1-year all-cause mortality associated with ADMs, with use occurring within 90 days of depression diagnosis among 720 821 patients who received treatment in a Veterans Health Administration facility during fiscal year 2006. We addressed treatment selection biases using conventional Cox regression, propensity-stratified Cox regression (propensity score), and 2 forms of marginal structural models. Models accounted for multiple potential clinical and demographic confounders, and sensitivity analyses compared findings by antidepressant class. RESULTS: Antidepressant medication use compared with no use was associated with significantly lower hazards of 1-year mortality risk in Cox (hazard ratio [HR], 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.90-0.97) and propensity score estimates (HR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.91-0.98), whereas marginal structural model-based estimates showed no difference in mortality risk when the exposure was specified as as-treated in every 90-day intervals of the 1-year follow-up (HR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.66-1.26) but showed increased risk when specified as intent-to-treat (HR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02-1.13). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients treated with ADMs belonging to a single class in the first 90 days, there were no significant differences in 1-year all-cause mortality risks. When accounting for clinical and demographic characteristics and treatment selection bias, ADM use was associated with no excess harm