Allergy and asthma, especially combined, raise risk for mood disorders

Key takeaways:

• Those with food allergies and asthma had 2.6 higher odds of having a mood disorder.
• A researcher noted that GPs are in an optimal place to investigate comorbidities in patients with food allergies and asthma.

WASHINGTON — Food allergies, particularly when combined with asthma, were associated with higher odds of mental health disorders and physical diseases in addition to higher health care use, researchers found.

“Some studies point out that food allergy is often a precursor to asthma among children,” Maurice M. Ohayon, MD, DSc, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, told Healio. “However, the interplay between asthma and food allergy, as well as its associated comorbidities, are not well documented in adults.”

In the study, presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting, the researchers examined two waves of interviews conducted between 2002 and 2015.

The first wave involved 12,218 adults, among whom 10,931 were reinterviewed 3 years later. Adults were divided into one of four groups:

• no allergies and/or asthma (no FAAG/ATA);
• food allergy alone (FA);
• food allergy and other allergies (FA+AG); and
• food allergy and asthma (FA+ATA).

The researchers found that 7% (95% CI, 6.5%-7.5%) of participants in the first wave and 7.2% (95% CI, 6.7%-7.7%) of participants in the second wave had food allergies.

Among those participants, 30.6% also had asthma and 53.9% had a non-food-related allergy.

Ohayon and colleagues noted that the odds of having a mood disorder were 2.4 and 2.6 times higher in the FA and FA+ATA groups, respectively.

“This may be a consequence of the impact of food allergies and asthma on the quality of life — affecting daily activities, social interactions and mental well-being,” Ohayon suggested. “This could also be evidence of common psychological background between allergies/asthma and mood/anxiety disorders.”

The FA (adjusted OR = 3.1; 95% CI, 2.1-4.5) and FA+ATA (aOR = 5.6; 95% CI, 3.8-8.2) groups were also more likely to report at least two non-allergy-related diseases.

Furthermore, the FA+ATA (11.8 consultations) and FA (6.7 consultations) groups consulted a physician more frequently in the previous year vs. the no FAAG/ATA group (four consultations).

“Overall, the interplay between food allergy and asthma in adults highlights the importance of a comprehensive approach in the diagnostic process and in the adoption of treatment strategies that address the different conditions present and their potential interactions,” Ohayon said.

He pointed out that general practitioners “are in an ideal position to investigate patients with symptoms of food allergy or asthma for the presence of symptoms of comorbidities such as mood and anxiety disorder, and consequently put in place an optimal treatment and appropriately refer the patients out if needed.”