The association between lung function and depression in middle-aged and elderly people: A real-world study

Depression is a common but severe mental disorder. The relationship between depressive symptoms and lung function has not been clearly elucidated. This study investigated the relationship between ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1%) and depression in US adults above 40. A cross-sectional study analyzing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) spanning from 2007 to 2012 was conducted to assess the association between depressive symptoms and lung function. Depression status was assessed using Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores. FEV1 were determined by the spirometry. Predicted FEV1 were calculated according to the global lung initiative race-specific reference equations and the global lung initiative global reference equations as race-neutral methods. Analyses employed weighted multivariable linear regression to analyze this relationship and subgroup analyses were performed. A total of 6474 participants over the age of 40 years were included in this study, including 1587 with depression. Depression group had significant lower FEV1% than non-depression group. After adjustment for all covariates, it is significant that FEV1% was negatively correlated with both depressive symptoms and PHQ-9 scores (OR = 0.562, 95% confidence interval 0.375–0.840; β = −0.672, 95% confidence interval −1.174 to −0.170). In the general American population, depressive symptoms and PHQ-9 scores is inversely linked with FEV1%, according to our research. Future longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the directionality of this association and to identify potential underlying mechanisms.

• Publication year

  2026

• Venue

  Medicine

• Publication date

  2026-01-02

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1097/MD.0000000000046925PMID 41496109PMCID 12778119
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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