The relationship between general mental health and number of health conditions in middle-aged females in the general U.S. population

Purpose: Research has shown that poor mental health is related to chronic health conditions; however, this relationship has not been assessed specifically in middleaged women.Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether general mental health differs by number of health conditions in middle-aged females in the general population.Methods: This cross-sectional analysis used 2017 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) for middle-aged females ages 45 to 64 from Maine (N=2112), Massachusetts (N=1285), Minnesota (N=3131), Mississippi (N=1036), and New Hampshire (N=1262).Ordered logistic regression analyses were conducted by state to analyze the relationship between mental health (low, moderate, high) and number of health conditions while controlling for health-related, demographic, and socioeconomic factors.Results: Across states, the results indicated that about one-third of females ages 45 to 64 years reported low to moderate general mental health, and over two-thirds reported one or more health conditions.The results of adjusted analysis indicated that mental health was inversely related to health conditions with the relationship strengthening as the number of health conditions increased.Conclusion: Across states, mental health issues and multiple health conditions were prevalent and moderately to highly related in middle-aged women.Thus, practitioners should automatically screen for both in this target population and treat concurrently.