The Impact of Caregiver Depression on Child Asthma Outcomes: Pathways and Mechanisms.

BACKGROUND: Depression is common in caregivers of children with asthma and is associated with poor outcomes in their child. No prior studies have longitudinally examined caregiver depression remission as a predictor of improvement in child asthma control. OBJECTIVE: This 2-site study examined whether the proportion of time a caregiver was in depression remission predicted subsequent child asthma control at exit. METHOD: Caregivers (n = 205) with current major depressive disorder and their children, ages 7 to 17, with persistent asthma were observed every 4 weeks for 52 weeks. Caregiver depressive symptoms were measured using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD). Child asthma was assessed with the (Childhood) Asthma Control Test (cACT/ACT) and spirometry, and depression with the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Linear regression analyses were conducted with change in cACT/ACT, CDI, and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)% predicted as outcomes and proportion of time the caregiver was in remission (HRSD score ≤ 7) as the predictor. Multilevel mediation analyses examined the role of child depressive symptoms and asthma controller medication adherence. RESULTS: Children were, on average, 54.1% female and 11 years old. Caregiver proportion of time in HRSD-assessed remission of depression was a significant predictor of improvement in cACT/ACT, CDI, and FEV1% predicted. Child CDI score, but not medication adherence, mediated the relationship between caregiver HRSD scores and child asthma control scores. CONCLUSIONS: Improvement in caregiver depression positively influences child asthma outcomes partially through improvement in child depressive symptom severity. Caregiver depression screening and treatment might lead to improvement in child asthma outcomes.

Multivariate Association of Child Depression and Anxiety with Asthma Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric asthma is associated with increased health services utilization, missed school days, and diminished quality of life. Children with asthma also report more frequent depressive and anxiety symptoms than children without asthma, which may further worsen asthma outcomes. OBJECTIVE: The current study investigated the relationship between depressive and anxiety symptoms and 4 asthma outcomes (asthma control, asthma severity, lung function, and asthma-related quality of life) in children (N = 205) with moderate to severe persistent asthma. METHODS: The data were analyzed using a canonical correlation analysis, a multivariate framework that allows examination of all variables of interest in the same model. RESULTS: We found a statistically significant relationship between symptoms of depression and anxiety and asthma outcomes (1 - Λ = .372; P < .001). A large effect size suggests that 37.2% of variance is shared between depression and anxiety symptoms and 4 asthma outcomes (particularly asthma control and asthma-related quality of life) in the overall sample. Among girls (vs. boys), asthma control (measured by the Asthma Control Test) emerged as a stronger contributor to asthma outcomes compared with boys. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that psychiatric symptoms, especially anxiety, are associated with poor asthma-related quality of life, and more negative perception of asthma control in girls compared with boys (with no observed sex difference in physiological lung function). Clinicians should consider incorporating questions about psychiatric symptoms as part of routine asthma management, and focus patient education on unique differences in which boys and girls perceive their asthma symptoms.