Purpose: Asthma and atopic dermatitis are common chronic diseases and depression is an important comorbidity in allergic diseases. However, it is little known about the association between maternal depression and child allergic diseases. This study was performed to find the association between maternal depression and child allergic diseases.
Methods: Data were acquired from 4695 family who participated in the Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (KNHANES), which was conducted from 2010 to 2012.
Results: The prevalence of childhood asthma was 5.3 % and childhood atopic dermatitis was 14.1%. the prevalence of maternal depression was 3.6 %. In univariated analysis, maternal depressions was associated with single mother, low economic state, maternal asthma, atopic dermatitis, children’s asthma. (p<0.05) but sex, age, education status and smoking were not associated with the presence of maternal depression. After adjustment, maternal depression were associated with lower house income, maternal asthma, maternal atopic dermatitis, children’s asthma.
Conclusion: The present study showed that maternal depression is associated with children’s asthma and not children’s atopic dermatitis. These results warrant future studies to explore the mechanisms responsible for the association between maternal depression and children’s asthma.