Major depression and generalized anxiety disorder among human T-lymphotropic virus Types I- and II-infected former blood donors

BACKGROUND: Other studies have reported high rates of depression and anxiety among human T‐lymphotropic virus Type I (HTLV‐I)‐infected subjects and have even suggested that HTLV‐I causes psychiatric disease. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: We interviewed HTLV‐I, HTLV‐II, and demographically similar HTLV‐seronegative blood donors with the Mini‐International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Prevalences of major depression and generalized anxiety disorder in each group were calculated and compared to published US population data. Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) controlling for educational achievement, alcohol intake, and self‐reported health status were calculated with multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: Major depression was diagnosed in five (5.4%) of 93 HTLV‐I–positive subjects (aOR, 2.19; 95% CI, 0.63‐7.55) and 17 (6.6%) of 256 HTLV‐II–positive subjects (aOR, 1.61; 95% CI, 0.66‐3.927), compared to 12 (2.1%) of 585 HTLV‐seronegative blood donors. The prevalence of major depression among infected subjects was comparable to the 6.7% prevalence in the US general population. Generalized anxiety disorder was diagnosed in five (5.4%) HTLV‐I–positive subjects (OR, 2.32; 95% CI, 0.74‐7.26) and 12 (4.7%) HTLV‐II–positive subjects (OR, 1.65; 95% CI, 0.68‐4.01), compared to 15 (2.6%) seronegative subjects and 3.1% in the US general population. CONCLUSION: Major depression and generalized anxiety disorder were not significantly more prevalent among HTLV‐I– and HTLV‐II–infected former blood donors after controlling for health status and other confounding variables. HTLV‐seronegative blood donors had lower prevalences of these conditions than the US population, probably due to a “healthy blood donor effect.”