Key result
Female sex, basic education, obesity, and smoking linked to ~149% higher odds of severe depression.
Why the study?
Depressive disorders are a critical public health concern in Chile, but evidence regarding the identification of depressive symptom clusters is lacking.
Cross-Sectional (n=1,000)
Odds Ratio: 2.49 (95% CI 1.63–3.81)
p-value: p=<0.001
Among young adults in Chile, depression presents in three distinct clusters (minimal, somatic, severe), with severe symptoms strongly predicted by female sex, lower education, obesity, smoking, and lower social support.
Supports targeted depression screening in young Chilean women who smoke or have obesity; leaves open causal inference and prospective trials.
BACKGROUND: Depressive disorders are a critical public health concern in Chile. Nonetheless, there is a lack of evidence regarding the identification of depressive symptom clusters. The objective was to identify depressive symptom clusters among Chilean young adults and examine how demographic, and lifestyle factors as well as social support can influence and predict them. METHODS: Cross-sectional study conducted among 1,000 participants from the Limache cohort 2. A latent class analysis (LCA) was performed to identify depressive symptom clusters, using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Multinomial logistic regression was then applied to explore the associations between identified classes and potential predictors. The models were adjusted by age and sex. RESULTS: Three latent classes of depressive symptoms were identified: minimal (25.7%); somatic (50.7%) and severe (23.6%). In the severe class for eight out nine depressive symptoms the probabilities were above 50%, and the probability of suicidal ideation was almost a third in this class. Being female (Adjusted Odds ratio [AOR], 2.49; 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.63-3.81]), current smoker (AOR, 1.74; 95% CI [1.15-2.65]), having basic education (AOR, 3.12; 95% CI [1.30-7.53]) and obesity (AOR, 2.72; 95% CI [1.61-4.59]) significantly increased the likelihood of belonging to severe class. Higher social support decreased the odds of being in the somatic (OR, 0.96; 95% CI [0.93-0.98]) and severe (OR, 0.92; 95% CI [0.90-0.94]) classes. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of individualized intervention strategies for depression management. Also, the study suggests that nutritional status and social support should be considered when addressing depression in this population.
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Carvajal et al. (2024) conducted a cross-sectional in Depressive symptoms (n=1,000). Female sex vs. Male sex was evaluated on Membership in the severe depressive symptoms class (OR 2.49, 95% CI 1.63-3.81, p=<0.001). Female sex, basic education, obesity, and current smoking significantly increased the odds of belonging to the severe depressive symptoms class among young adults.
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