Department of Mental Disorder Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1, Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, 187-8502, Japan.
Genequest Inc., 5-29-11, Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-0014, Japan.
J Affect Disord. 2019 Feb 15;245:213-218. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.10.119. Epub 2018 Oct 26.
Although some studies suggest a possible association between food allergy (FA) and depression/psychological distress, empirical data are still scarce. We aimed to examine whether this association exists in a large sample of the Japanese population.
This web-based cross-sectional survey included 1000 individuals with self-reported lifetime history of clinical depression (mean age: 41.4 years, 501 men), and the remaining 10,876 subjects served as controls (mean age: 45.1 years, 5691 men). A six-item Kessler scale (K6) test was used to evaluate severe psychological distress. Information on FA was obtained by a self-report checking for 27 specific allergens.
Participants with FA, 2 or more, 3 or more, and 4 or more allergens were more common in the depression group than in the control group (odds ratio [OR] = 1.64, 1.75, 2.02, and 2.27, respectively; p < 0.001). In the allergen analyses, allergies for shrimp, egg, mackerel, crab, kiwi fruit, milk, banana, and squid (nominal, p < 0.05) were more common in the depression group than in the controls. The proportion of individuals who had a K6 test cut-off score ≥ 13 was higher in the FA group than in the non-FA group, in the total sample (OR = 1.32, 1.62, 2.04 and 2.51; 1, 2, 3, and 4 or more allergens, respectively; p < 0.001).
The identification of FA and depression was based on self-reports.
Our data suggest that FA is a risk factor for depression and severe psychological distress, which depends on the number of allergens.
尽管一些研究表明食物过敏（FA）与抑郁/心理困扰之间可能存在关联，但实证数据仍然有限。我们旨在检验这种关联是否存在于日本的一个大型人群样本中。
本项基于网络的横断面研究纳入了 1000 名自述有终生临床抑郁史的个体（平均年龄：41.4 岁，501 名男性），其余 10876 名受试者作为对照组（平均年龄：45.1 岁，5691 名男性）。采用 Kessler 量表（K6）六分量表评估严重心理困扰。通过对 27 种特定过敏原的自我报告检查来获取 FA 信息。
有 2 种或以上、3 种或以上和 4 种或以上过敏原的 FA 参与者在抑郁组中比在对照组中更为常见（比值比[OR]分别为 1.64、1.75、2.02 和 2.27；p均<0.001）。在过敏原分析中，虾、蛋、鲭鱼、蟹、猕猴桃、牛奶、香蕉和鱿鱼过敏（名义性，p<0.05）在抑郁组中比在对照组中更为常见。在总样本中，FA 组 K6 测试截断值评分≥13 的个体比例高于非 FA 组（OR 分别为 1.32、1.62、2.04 和 2.51；1、2、3 和 4 种或更多过敏原；p<0.001）。
FA 和抑郁的确定基于自我报告。
我们的数据表明 FA 是抑郁和严重心理困扰的一个危险因素，这取决于过敏原的数量。
