Depression or anxiety in adult twins is associated with asthma diagnosis but not with offspring asthma

Abstract

We found an association between own asthma diagnosis and anxiety or depression, but not with offspring asthma. Our results indicate that the associations were not due to confounding from genes or environment shared by the twins.

Developments in the field of allergy in 2016 through the eyes of Clinical and Experimental Allergy

“…That asthma is both depressing and anxiety inducing, has been the subject of a number of studies, and perhaps is not all that surprising. In a large twin study from the Swedish Twin Register, Tedner et al largely confirm these previous findings and are able to demonstrate that the effect is not likely to be genetic or due to environment and probably not related to ICS treatment …”

Maternal depressive symptoms, maternal asthma, and asthma in school-aged children

“…Moreover, parental mental illness has been linked to poor asthma management in children, leading to increased risk of hospitalization (35). Maternal depression in caregivers has been associated with increased asthma morbidity in children in some studies (36) but not in others (10). Alternatively, some of the women with asthma and depressive symptoms or clinical depression may have been depressed during pregnancy, and perinatal stressors may increase the risk of childhood asthma by altering immune responses (37) or the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (35).…”

“…Depression is frequent during and after pregnancy, affecting 10–15% of all gravid and post-partum mothers (6, 7) Among Hispanics, Puerto Rican mothers have twice the risk of mental health disorders (including depression) as Mexican Americans (8). In large studies of adults, depression has been associated with asthma (9, 10). …”

The national perioperative anaphylaxis audit project

“…In this issue of the Journal, Brew et al investigate the co‐existence of atopic diseases and an internalizing disorder in families. An association between atopy and internalizing disorders has been previously found . They used the Swedish Childhood and Adolescent Twin Study (CATSS, n = 14 197).…”