Association Between Rhinitis and Depression in United States Adults.
BACKGROUND
Growing evidence suggests a link between allergic disorders and depression, but literature assessing the association between rhinitis and depression is conflicting, and large population-based studies are lacking.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the association between depression and rhinitis in a representative sample of United States adults.


METHODS
We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 4320 participants in the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Rhinitis was defined as self-reported hay fever and/or nasal symptoms in the past 12 months. Rhinitis was further stratified as allergic rhinitis (AR) if participants had a positive serum IgE or nonallergic rhinitis (NAR) if participants did not have a positive serum IgE to any aeroallergen. The outcome variable was depression, defined as a score ≥10 on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9.


RESULTS
The odds of depression were 42% higher in subjects with rhinitis compared with those without rhinitis (odds ratio [OR]: 1.42, confidence interval [CI]: 1.03-1.95, P = .04) and 2 times higher in subjects with NAR compared with those without rhinitis (OR: 1.99, CI: 1.34-2.96, P = .002). Subjects with NAR had 64% higher odds of mild depression (OR: 1.64, CI: 1.32-2.02, P < .001) and 2.4 times higher odds of moderate depression (OR: 2.43, CI: 1.39-4.26, P = .004) compared with subjects with no rhinitis.


CONCLUSIONS
Rhinitis is significantly associated with depression, and patients with NAR may be at higher risk of depression than those with AR. Although further studies are required to elucidate the relationship between rhinitis and depression, these findings reinforce the need to consider depression in patients undergoing evaluation for rhinitis.
['Roxbury|Christopher R|CR|', 'Qiu|Mary|M|', 'Shargorodsky|Josef|J|', 'Woodard|Troy D|TD|', 'Sindwani|Raj|R|', 'Lin|Sandra Y|SY|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D003863:Depression D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007073:Immunoglobulin E D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D009749:Nutrition Surveys D016017:Odds Ratio D012220:Rhinitis D014481:United States D055815:Young Adult
Rhinitis Depression National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Allergic rhinitis Nonallergic rhinitis