Is Depression More Common in Lyme Disease?

The incidence of depression in patients with Lyme borreliosis (LB) is similar to that of the general population, according to a recent study. As a result, depressive symptoms likely cannot be used to discriminate for the presence of LB.

Previous evidence regarding the potential association between mood disorders, such as depression, and LB has been controversial.
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To examine this association further, the researchers evaluated 1454 adult patients who had visited a tertiary Lyme center from January 2008 to December 2014. Serum samples were taken from each patient prior to medical consultation.

Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory II, and Lyme diagnoses were extracted retrospectively from patients’ medical records. Clinical LB and serology results were used to classify patients. The incidence and odds ratios of moderate to severe depressive symptoms were determined.

Findings from the study showed that the prevalence of depressive symptoms was similar in patients with and without LB. The incidence of moderate to severe depressive symptoms was lowest among patients with no clinical LB and positive serology (15.3%) and was higher in patients with clinical LB with positive (19.3%) and negative (20.9%) serology.

In addition, the odds ratio for moderate to severe depressive symptoms was 0.71 in patients with LB and positive serology, compared with those with no LB and negative serology.

“The prevalence of depressive symptoms was similar in patients with LB compared to patients with no evidence of infection,” the researchers concluded. “This suggests that depressive symptoms cannot be used to discriminate for LB in a tertiary Lyme center.”

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Zomer TP, Vermeeren YM, Landman GW, et al. Depressive symptoms in patients referred to a tertiary lyme center: high prevalence in those without evidence of Lyme borreliosis. Clin Infect Dis. 2017;65(10):1689-1694. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cix605.