Association between obstructive syndrome and mental disorder – The PneumoLaus|PsyCoLaus study

Mental health disorders figure among the many comorbidities of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association of airway obstruction with mental disorders in the Swiss general population. PneumoLaus is based on the CoLaus|PsyCoLaus cohort inluding spirometry and a semi-structured interview on mental health in a random sample of the Lausanne general population(Switzerland).We defined reversible obstruction(RO) as FEV1/FVC LLN or FVC>LLN after bronchodilation(BD). Chronic obstruction(CO) was defined as FEV1/FVC In total, 2774 subjects performed spirometry and were assessed through the PsyCoLaus interview. We found evidence for associations of self-reported doctor-diagnosed asthma (OR 1.60, 95%CI 1.06–2.39) and COPD, emphysema or chronic bronchitis(OR 2.61, 95%CI 1.19–5.71) with recent remitted or current major depression(RCD). These associations were not found when spirometric criteria(CO, RO, FEV1, FVC in % predicted) were used instead of the self-reported diagnoses. There was some suggestion for associations between RO and RCD(OR 1.62, 95%CI 0.87-3.01) and RO and recent remitted/current anxiety disorder(OR 1.95, 95%CI 0.99–3.87). Subjects with known diagnosis of obstructive respiratory disease more frequently suffer from depression and anxiety. However, this association was not confirmed when using objective spirometric values instead of self-reported diagnoses.