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Severity and persistence of asthma and mental health: a birth cohort study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2012

R. D. Goodwin*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, New York, USA Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
M. Robinson
Affiliation:
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
P. D. Sly
Affiliation:
Queensland Children's Medical Research Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
I. W. McKeague
Affiliation:
Department of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
E. S. Susser
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, NY, USA
S. R. Zubrick
Affiliation:
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
F. J. Stanley
Affiliation:
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
E. Mattes
Affiliation:
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
*
*Address for correspondence: R. D. Goodwin, PhD, MPH, 722 West 168th Street, Room 1505, New York, NY 10032, USA. (Email: rdg66@columbia.edu)

Abstract

Background

The goal of the current study was to investigate asthma and mental health among youth in the community, and to consider the role of asthma severity and persistence in this link.

Method

Data were drawn from the Raine Study, a population-based birth cohort study in Western Australia. Logistic regression models and generalized estimating equations were used to examine the relationship between asthma at age 5 years and the range of internalizing and externalizing mental health problems at ages 5–17 years. Analyses were stratified by asthma severity and persistence, and adjusted for a range of potential confounders.

Results

More severe and persistent asthma at age 5 was associated with significantly increased odds of affective, anxiety, somatic, oppositional defiant and conduct problems at ages 5–17. Mild asthma and remitted asthma were not associated with heightened vulnerability to mental disorders.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that youth with symptomatic asthma are more likely to suffer from a wide range of mental health problems, and that the likelihood of mental health problems appears to increase as a function of asthma severity. Youth with poorly controlled and/or more severe and persistent asthma may be considered a vulnerable group who might benefit from mental health screening in clinical, school and community settings.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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