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Depression and Altitude: Cross-Sectional Community-Based Study Among Elderly High-Altitude Residents in the Himalayan Regions

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Abstract

Suicide rates are higher at high altitudes, and some hypothesize that hypoxia is the cause. There may be a significant correlation between rates of depression and altitude, but little data exist outside the United States. The purpose of the present study is to conduct a survey of depression among the elderly highlanders in Asia. We enrolled 114 persons aged 60 years or older (mean, 69.2 ± 6.7 years; women, 58.8 %) in Domkhar (altitude, 3800 m), Ladakh, India and 173 ethnic Tibetans (mean, 66.5 ± 6.1 years; women, 61.3 %) in Yushu (altitude, 3700 m), Qinghai Province, China. The two-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2) and the geriatric depression scale were administered. A psychiatrist interviewed the subjects who had a positive score on the PHQ-2. The results of the interview with the residents conducted by the specialist showed that two cases (1.8 %) from Domkhar and four (2.3 %) from Qinghai had depression. Despite the high altitude, the probability of depression was low in elderly highlander in Ladakh and Qinghai. Our finding seems to indicate that cultural factors such as religious outlook and social/family relationship inhibit the development of depression.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate all those elderly highlanders in Ladakh and Qinghai who participated in the community-based geriatric examinations. In addition, we would like to express our cordial gratitude to Hongxin Wang, Qingxiang Dai, Airong Yang, Haisheng Qiao, Zhanquan Li, Huining Xu, Haiying Tong, and Ri-Li Ge from Qinghai University Affiliated Hospital and Qinghai Academy Animal and Veterinary Sciences, the staff of the People’s Hospital of Yushu county, and Tsering Norboo, and the staff of Ladakh Institute of Prevention who kindly supported us. This study was mainly supported by a Grant-in-Aid of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (3-4 FR): Human Life, Aging, and Disease in High-Altitude Environments: Physio-medical, Ecological and Cultural Adaptation in “Highland Civilizations.” (Leader: Kiyohito Okumiya). This study was funded by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) No. 22590668.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Medical Center East, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, Nishiogu, 2-1-10 Arakawa, Tokyo, 116-8567, Japan

    Motonao Ishikawa, Gaku Yamanaka, Takashi Nakaoka, Kuniaki Otsuka & Hiroshi Sakura

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Aino Hospital, Osaka, Japan

    Naomune Yamamoto

  3. Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Kiyohito Okumiya & Kozo Matsubayashi

Authors
  1. Motonao Ishikawa
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  2. Gaku Yamanaka
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  3. Naomune Yamamoto
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  4. Takashi Nakaoka
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  5. Kiyohito Okumiya
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  6. Kozo Matsubayashi
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  7. Kuniaki Otsuka
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  8. Hiroshi Sakura
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Correspondence to Motonao Ishikawa.

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Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Ishikawa, M., Yamanaka, G., Yamamoto, N. et al. Depression and Altitude: Cross-Sectional Community-Based Study Among Elderly High-Altitude Residents in the Himalayan Regions. Cult Med Psychiatry 40, 1–11 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-015-9462-7

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