Generalizability of the Dual Vulnerability Model to Age-modified Risk Factors of Depression
Date
2021-07-12
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Abstract
Background: The association between seasonality and depression has been demonstrated to decrease with age. This age modification has also been observed between seasonal changes and nine depressive symptoms as hypothesized by the Dual Vulnerability Model. This model posits that due to seasonal changes certain individuals have a biological vulnerability to develop somatic symptoms, and of individuals with this biological vulnerability a smaller subset will have a cognitive vulnerability. These individuals will then develop affective symptoms and consequently depression. The first objective of this study is to determine a set of risk factors for depression that exhibit age modification. The second objective is to determine if modification by age, in situations where risk factors show stronger effects in young people, is aligned with the DVM.Methods: Cross-sectional data from the Canadian Community Health Survey was used for analysis. Logistic regression was used to assess age modification in the association between 10 risk factors and depression as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Then, logistic regression analysis was used to determine if there was an age-modified association between risk factors and symptoms of depression as measured by each item of the PHQ-9. This symptom-specific analysis was only conducted for risk factors that exhibited an age-modified association with depression overall.Results: Only sex and binge drinking exhibited age modification with overall depressive symptoms, where the association declined with age. For sex, symptoms of feeling depressed, poor/enhanced appetite, and low self-esteem exhibited age modification. For binge drinking, symptoms of feeling tired and appetite changes exhibited age modification. The association between binge drinking or sex with these symptoms was stronger in adolescents and young adults and diminished with age. Conclusions: The age modification for sex and binge drinking did not align with the DVM suggesting that the DVM may be a somewhat specific characteristic of seasonal depression.
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Depression, Epidemiology, Psychiatry
Citation
Lukmanji, A. (2021). Generalizability of the Dual Vulnerability Model to Age-modified Risk Factors of Depression (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.