New research indicates that if you have a mood disorder and you are also allergic to tree or ragweed pollen, your depression will likely worsen during hay fever season.
Researcher Partam Manalai, MD, of the department of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore studied 100 people diagnosed with either depression or bipolar disorder, 53% of which tested positive for ragweed or tree pollen allergies.
Manalai found that those with allergies had increasingly worse scores on depression tests as it progressed from low to high pollen season; and, the worse their allergy symptoms were, the higher their depression scores were.
Manalai stressed that only people with mood disorders were studied. Those who were otherwise healthy, but feel miserable during allergy season were not included in the study.
Manalai also noted that there are spring and fall peaks in pollen counts which coincide with suicide rates around the world. While this is not conclusive proof of a link, it does raise some intriguing questions.
“In patients with allergy and depression,” suggested Manalai, “prophylactic treatment of these conditions may prevent worsening of mood during peak allergy season.”
The results of the study were presented at a news conference at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Assocation (APA) and reported on by WebMD Health News.
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By Nancy Schimelpfening, About.com Guide to Depression