Article Figures & Data
Figures
Tables
Supplemental Table
Supplemental Table. Unadjusted and Adjusted Risk Ratios of Major Depressive Syndrome at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Years for Poor/Fair Self-Rated Health Compared With Good/Excellent Self-Rated Health
Files in this Data Supplement:
- Supplemental data: Table - PDF file
The Article in Brief
Self-Rated Health and Long-Term Prognosis of Depression
Gilles Ambresin , and colleagues
Background Self-rated health has been used as a reliable, quick way to assess and monitor population health. This study examines whether self-rated health (SRH) predicts long-term depression outcomes in primary care using the following question: "In general, would you say your health is excellent, very good, good, fair or poor?"
What This Study Found Self-rated health appears to be a strong and consistent predictor of the risk of future depression in patients with recent experience of depressive symptoms. Patients who rated their health as poor to fair had a two-fold greater risk of major depression up to five years later compared with those who rated their health as good to excellent. The association between self-rated health and future depressive status remained strong even after adjusting for age, sex, multimorbidity, and baseline depression status or severity.
Implications
- Few tools exist to help physicians identify those at increased risk of persistent or recurring depression. SRH provides enough information to indicate long-term increased risk of poor depression outcome for primary care patients with recent experience of depressive symptoms.