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Objective: To estimate the association between depressive symptoms and physical diseases in Switzerland, as respective findings might inform about future estimates of mental and physical health care costs.Methods: A population-based study, using data from the Swiss Health Survey collected by computer assisted telephone interviews and additional written questionnaires during the year 2007 (n = 18,760) in Switzerland. The multistage stratified random sample included subjects aged 15 and older, living in a private Swiss household with a telephone connection. Complete data was available for 14,348 subjects (51% of all subjects reached by telephone). Logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the associations between depressive symptoms and any physical disease, or a specific physical disease out of 13 non-communicable physical diseases assessed with a self-report checklist on common physical diseases. Analyses were adjusted for sex, age, education, occupation and household income. Results: In the adjusted models depressive symptoms were associated with arthrosis and arthritis (Odds Ratio [OR] = 1.79, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] = 1.28−2.50) and any physical disease (OR = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.33−2.10) after controlling for multiple testing.Conclusion: Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the comorbidity of depressive symptoms and arthrosis and arthritis in Switzerland and might have implications for more precise future estimates of mental and physical health care costs.

Objective: Infectious diseases and anxiety disorders are common and both are associated with substantial burden to individual, families and society. A better understanding of their association may be helpful in explicating possible etiological mechanisms related to both. The goal of the current study was to investigate the relationship between specific infectious diseases and anxiety disorders among adults in the community, and to examine whether the co-occurrence of the two is associated with poorer quality of life compared to subjects with one or neither condition. Methods: We used data from the 1998 German Mental Health survey with 4,181 subjects aged 18-65. Various infectious diseases (lifetime) and health-related quality of life were assessed via self-report questionnaires and anxiety disorders (past 12-months) were diagnosed using M-CIDI interviews; Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between infectious diseases and anxiety disorders; a linear model adjusted for sex was used to examine whether comorbidity of infectious diseases and anxiety disorders was associated with quality of life.Results: Whooping cough (OR=1.69, 95%CI=1.36-2.09), scarlet fever (OR=1.31, 95%CI=1.02–1.68) and diphtheria (OR=1.79, 95%CI=1.21–2.64) were associated with increased prevalence of any anxiety disorder. Subjects with both infectious diseases and anxiety disorders reported lower levels of both mental and physical quality of life, compared with subjects with only one or neither condition.Conclusions: Extending prior research, this study suggests a relationship between specific infectious diseases and anxiety disorders in an adult community sample. Research targeting etiological mechanisms related to the interplay between infectious diseases and anxiety disorders is warrented.