Depression, Anxiety, and Health-related Quality of Life in Adolescents and Young Adults with Allergies and Asthma

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to assess the relationships between depressive symptoms, anxious symptoms, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with allergies, asthma, and healthy controls. Participants were undergraduate students aged 18-29 with self-reported allergies (N=120), asthma (N=120), and with no history of a chronic illness (N=120). Participants completed a demographic form, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and the SF-36 Healthy Survey Questionnaire. The participants were recruited from an online participant pool for undergraduate students. The results revealed that both AYAs with allergies and asthma are experiencing poorer psychosocial functioning than their healthy peers. AYAs with allergies demonstrated higher levels of depressive symptoms than healthy AYAs, and AYAs with allergies demonstrated higher levels of anxious symptoms than AYAs with asthma and healthy AYAs. AYAs with asthma demonstrated higher levels of anxious symptoms than healthy AYAs. Both AYAs with asthma and allergies demonstrated poorer physical HRQOL than healthy AYAs after controlling for anxious and depressive symptoms. After controlling for anxious and depressive symptoms, the disease groups did not differ on mental HRQOL. Overall, these results suggest that both AYAs with asthma and allergies are experiencing poorer psychosocial functioning, and although, often considered a relatively benign illness, allergies may be an important population to study within chronic illnesses.