Among survey respondents who did not report depressive symptoms initially, social media use was associated with a greater likelihood of a subsequent increase in depressive symptoms after adjustment for sociodemographic features and news sources, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. Roy H. Perlis, MD, MSc, and colleagues characterized the association between self-reported use of individual social media platforms and worsening of depressive symptoms among adults. The survey study included data from 13 waves of a nonprobability Internet survey conducted between May 2020 and May 2021 among adults. Logistic regression was applied without reweighting, with a five-point or greater increase in the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score as an outcome and participant sociodemographic features, baseline PHQ-9, and use of each social media platform as independent variables. They found that 5,395 of 8,045 individuals (67.1%) with a PHQ-9 score below 5 on the initial survey completed a second PHQ-9. Among eligible respondents, 482 (8.9%) reported 5 points or greater worsening of PHQ-9 score at the second survey.
