Comorbidity of rosacea and depression: An analysis of the national ambulatory medical care survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Care Survey - outpatient department data collected by the US National Center for Health Statistics from 1995 to 2002

Background Psychogenic factors have been considered to be important in the exacerbation and possibly the onset of rosacea. However, there are very few studies that have reported conclusive findings. Objectives To examine the association between rosacea and major depressive disease, a common and usually treatable psychiatric disorder. Methods Data from 1995 to 2002, collected by the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the outpatient component of the National Hospital Ambulatory Care Survey, which are both nationally representative surveys of healthcare visits in the U.S.A., were studied. The basic sampling unit in both surveys is the patient visit or encounter. A 'Rosacea' variable was created by grouping all rosacea (ICD-9-CM code 695.3) visits and a 'Depression' variable was created by grouping the patient visits related to major depressive disorder (ICD-9-CM codes 296.2, 296.3 and 311). As alcohol abuse has been implicated in rosacea, and alcohol can confound symptoms of depression, an 'Alcohol' variable was created by grouping all ICD-9-CM codes related to alcohol dependence and abuse (codes 303, 303.0, 303.9 and 305.0). All analyses were conducted using the Complex Samples module of SPSS version 13, to account for the multistage probability sampling design used to collect the data. Results The weighted data were representative of over 608 million dermatology visits between 1995 and 2002. Logistic regression analysis using 'Rosacea' as the dependent variable and age, sex, 'Alcohol' and 'Depression' as independent variables revealed that the odds ratio for depressive disease in the rosacea group was 4.81 (95% confidence interval 1.39-16.62). The association between 'Alcohol' and 'Rosacea' was not significant. Conclusions The comorbidity between major depressive disease and rosacea may have important clinical implications. Alcohol abuse does not appear to play a significant role in this association.