Table 1.
Characteristics of young adults (18–25 years) by PHQ-9 depression from the 2017–2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
| Total (n = 917) |
Depression (n = 90) |
No Depression (n = 827) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participant characteristics | n (weighted %) | n (weighted %) | n (weighted %) | p-value |
| Iron deficiency | ||||
| Ferritin deficiency | ||||
| Yes (<30 g/L) | 181 (18.1) | 19 (19.0) | 162 (18.0) | 0.730 |
| No ( g/L) | 736 (81.9) | 71 (81.0) | 665 (82.0) | |
| Serum iron deficiency | ||||
| Yes (<60 ) | 203 (20.7) | 21 (25.7) | 182 (20.2) | 0.774 |
| No ( 60 g/L) | 714 (79.3) | 69 (74.3) | 645 (79.8) | |
| Transferrin deficiency | ||||
| Yes (<16 %) | 151 (15.2) | 19 (24.2) | 132 (14.2) | 0.211 |
| No ( 16 %) | 766 (84.8) | 71 (75.8) | 695 (85.8) | |
| Age (Mean, SD) | 21.1 (2.1) | 21.3 (2.4) | 21.1 (2.4) | 0.483 |
| Sex | ||||
| Male | 486 (53.6) | 32 (38.5) | 454 (55.2) | <0.001 |
| Female | 431 (46.4) | 58 (61.5) | 373 (44.8) | |
| Race/ethnicity | ||||
| Non-Hispanic White | 290 (55.4) | 32 (58.5) | 258 (55.1) | 0.615 |
| Non-Hispanic Black | 214 (11.3) | 17 (9.6) | 197 (11.4) | |
| Non-Hispanic Asian | 96 (5.1) | 7 (4.3) | 89 (5.2) | |
| Hispanic | 254 (23.7) | 26 (23.9) | 228 (23.7) | |
| Other | 63 (4.5) | 8 (3.7) | 55 (4.6) | |
| Ratio of family income to poverty,a mean (SD) | 2.1 (1.6) | 2.2 (1.5) | 2.1 (1.6) | 0.743 |
| BMI categoriesb | ||||
| Underweight (<18.5 kg/m2) | 40 (4.0) | 8 (5.4) | 32 (3.8) | 0.002 |
| Healthy weight (18.5 to < 25 kg/m2) | 381 (40.5) | 24 (31.8) | 357 (41.5) | |
| Overweight (25 to < 30 kg/m2) | 226 (25.6) | 21 (24.5) | 205 (25.7) | |
| Obese (>30 kg/m2) | 258 (29.9) | 36 (38.2) | 222 (29.0) | |
| Physical activity | ||||
| Inactive or insufficient (<150 min/week) | 173 (16.3) | 19 (21.0) | 154 (15.8) | 0.566 |
| Sufficient ( 150 min/week) | 744 (83.7) | 71 (79.0) | 673 (84.2) | |
| Mental health professional | ||||
| Yes | 107 (13.9) | 26 (31.4) | 81 (12.1) | <0.001 |
| No | 810 (86.1) | 64 (68.6) | 746 (87.9) | |
| Dietary iron intakeb, c (in mg), mean (SD) | 13.3 (7.5) | 11.3 (5.7) | 13.6 (7.6) | 0.010 |
| Dietary supplements | ||||
| Yes | 283 (33.8) | 33 (42.9) | 250 (32.8) | 0.209 |
| No | 634 (66.2) | 57 (57.1) | 577 (67.2) |
Abbreviations: n, number; SD, standard deviation; BMI, body mass index, PHQ-9, Patient Health
Questionnaire-9; weighted %, weighted percentage.
a
Range: 0–5 with higher values indicating higher socioeconomic status.
b
Missing data: BMI categories (n = 12, 1.8 %), dietary iron intake (n = 41, 4.5 %).
c
Range: 0.68–58.8 mg.