Depression spikes after liver cirrhosis diagnosis

Patients who have recently been diagnosed with liver cirrhosis see a sharp increase in the risk of developing depression, a recent study has found.

Drawing from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service claims database of South Korea, researchers assessed the incidence of major depressive disorder (MDD) in 510,737 cirrhotic patients (mean age 55.8 years, 68.4 percent men). The International Classification of Diseases was used as the basis for cirrhosis and MDD diagnoses.

Incidence analysis was conducted across eight different time periods: 720–361 days (reference period), 360–181 days, 180–91 days, and 90–31 days before cirrhosis diagnosis, as well as 30–89, 90–179, 180–359, and 360–719 days after cirrhosis diagnosis.

During the reference period, the incidence rate of MDD was 3.56 per 100 person-years. This remained relatively stable during all precirrhosis periods: 4.04, 4.41, and 5.56 per 100 person-years at 360–181, 180–91, and 90–31 days before being diagnosed with cirrhosis, respectively.

However, 30–89 days after diagnosis, MDD incidence spiked, reaching a rate of 7.54 per 100 person-years. This then fell back down to 5.82, 4.99, and 4.36 per 100 person-years at 90–179, 180–359, and 360–719 days after diagnosis, respectively.

The risk of MDD was significantly elevated across all time periods, both pre- and postdiagnosis, as compared with the reference period (p<0.001). However, the risk estimate was highest 30–89 days after diagnosis, during which time MDD was more than twice as likely to occur than in the reference period (incidence rate ratio, 2.12, 95 percent confidence interval, 2.06–2.18; p<0.001).