Influence of chronic diseases on the occurrence of depression: A 13-year follow-up study from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.

The causal association between chronic diseases and depression remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the effects of types and number of chronic diseases on the risk of depression using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). A self-admitted questionnaire was used to obtain data on 14 predefined chronic diseases and the European-Depression Scale (EURO-D) was used to assess depression. Among the 16,080 baseline depression-free participants aged 50+, 31.29% (5032) developed depression over 13 years. Multivariate Cox regression models showed that individuals with any chronic diseases were at higher risk of new onset depression compared to disease-free participants. The risk of new onset depression increased with an increasing number of diseases among both younger (50-64) and older (65+) adults. Individuals with heart attack, stroke, diabetes, chronic lung disease, and arthritis were at increased risk of depression across age groups. However, some age-specific associations were observed, with cancer increasing depression risk among younger- and peptic ulcer, Parkinson's disease and cataracts increasing depression risk among older adults. These findings highlight the importance of managing chronic diseases, especially among those with more than two diseases, to prevent the development of depression among middle-aged and older adults.

The relationship between chronic diseases and depression in middle-aged and older adults: A 4-year follow-up study from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.

BACKGROUND: Evidence of the association between common chronic diseases and depression is sparse. METHODS: Totally 7819 participants aged 45+ without depression at baseline were followed-up (2011-2015) to detect incident depression. Chronic diseases and depression were defined by self-reported diagnosis and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D10), respectively. Cox proportional hazards model was used to explore the association between chronic diseases and depression adjusting for age, gender, education, marital/living conditions, area, smoking, drinking, economic status, BMI and health insurance. RESULTS: During an average of 3.42 years follow-up, 2271 participants developed depression (85 per 1000 person-year). Chronic diseases were related to significantly higher risk of depression (HR = 1.38). A higher risk of depression was also associated with specific diseases: stomach/other digestive diseases (HR = 1.19), diabetes (HR = 1.22), arthritis/rheumatism (HR = 1.30), and kidney diseases (HR = 1.34) (P < 0.05). The risk of depression increased with increasing in the number of chronic diseases (1: HR = 1.27, 2: HR = 1.49, and 3+: HR = 1.51, P-trend < 0.001). No significant difference was observed across age, gender, education, and area. LIMITATIONS: Chronic diseases and depression were based on self-reported diagnosis and measurement scale, respectively, which could lead to information bias. Some unmeasured confounders might have biased the results. CONCLUSIONS: The occurrence of depression in people aged 45+ is associated with number of chronic diseases in a dose-response fashion. These results may provide guidance on preventing depression and improving the quality of life in middle and late adulthood.

[Cloning and phylogenetic analysis of bovine prochymosin gene].

The cDNA sequence of bovine prochymosin gene was cloned and sequenced from the abomasums of suckling calf by RT-PCR. The sequence was aligned and bioinformatically analyzed with related sequences in GenBank. The result of sequence analysis revealed that the gene was determined to bovine prochymosin B gene and had the high level of homology with prochymosin gene of other known mammals. The base bias of 18 species of prochymosin gene reduced according to codon position, and the gene provided us with excellent material of phylogenetic research. Thus, the phylogenetic tree of 18 species of prochymosin gene was used to discuss and offer testimony to phylogenetic relationship of 11 mammals.