Association between depression and anaemia: A cross-sectiona

ISSN: 2319-5835

Association between Depression and Anaemia: A cross-sectional study from North India

Corresponding Author: Dr. Naorem Kiranmala Devi, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007, Email: kmaladevi01@gmail.com

KEYWORDS Depression, BDI, anaemia, Complete blood count

ABSTRACT
Background: Depression is a serious mental health condition all over the world. It is associated with various other medical conditions. The co-morbid condition of depression and other medical illnesses leads to greater mortality and morbidity. Depression may lead to unhealthy lifestyle habits, which makes people more vulnerable to various other diseases, including anaemia. Depressive people were more likely to become anaemic as compared to the general population.
Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was carried out among 742 individuals of either sex aged 18-75 years. Depression was assessed by using Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Haemoglobin level was measured in grams/decilitre (g/dl) with an automated Complete Blood Count (CBC) analyzer (Sysmex KX-21). SPSS v. 22 (IBM SPSS Inc. Chicago, IL) was used to perform statistical analysis.
Result: In the present study, 35.3% of the participants were found to be anaemic. Anaemia was found to be higher among females. A higher proportion of depressed participants were anaemic (42.6%) as compared to non-anaemic participants (32.8%). The odd ratio (OR) analysis showed that depression significantly increased the risk for anaemia.
Conclusion: This study suggests that depression may be associated with anaemia. It can be highlighted that depressive disorder and anaemia may have bidirectional relationships which may share similar pathological pathways. Larger prospective studies are required to understand the causal relationship between the two conditions.

Suresh Dahal¹, Ved Prakash¹, Kallur Nava Saraswathy¹, Naorem Kiranmala Devi¹

¹Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007

DOI-DS: 01.2024-64411391
DOI Link :: https://doi-ds.org/doilink/01.2024-64411391/FrontierAnthropology/2023/12/A4

Brief Communication

Manuscript Timeline
Submitted: August 31, 2023
Accepted: December 30, 2023
Published: January 20, 2024