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Depression
Prevalence of hypothyroidism and importance of cholesterol estimation in patients suffering from major depressive disorder.
Gupta S, Saha PK, Mukhopadhyay A. J Indian Med Assoc. 2008 Apr;106(4):240, 242.
Department of Biochemistry, Calcutta National Medical College, Kolkata 700014.
The coexistence of hypothroidism and depression is already reported and both of these conditions are known to share some common clinical symptoms. Serum cholesterol level is known to be altered in either condition considered separately. But, no report is obtained regarding serum cholesterol level when both the conditions coexist. In this study, 78 patients (61 females and 17 males, age ranged 19 to 67 years) suffering from major depressive disorder were included. Serum T3, T4, TSH and cholesterol levels were estimated in all of them. Sixty-two patients were found to be euthyroid and 16 patients (11 females, 5 males) were found to be hypothyroid. Among female patients, 6 had subclinical hypothyroidism and 5 had overt hypothyroidism. Among male patients 3 had subclinical hypothyroidism and 2 had overt hypothyroidism. The overall prevalence of hypothyroidism in major depressive disorder was estimated as 20.5%. Mean serum cholesterol level in 62 euthyroid patients was found to be 150.9% +/- 16 mg% and that of 16 hypothyroid patients to be 190.7 +/- 12 mg% showing a significant difference (p < 0.01). Thus estimation of cholesterol in major depressive disorder patients may give an idea regarding their thyroid status and vice-versa.
Are cholesterol and depression inversely related? A meta-analysis of the association between two cardiac risk factors.
College of Nursing, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA. Shin JY, Suls J, Martin R. Ann Behav Med. 2008 Aug;36(1):33-43. Epub 2008 Sep 12.
BACKGROUND: Cholesterol and depression are both cardiac risk factors, but the direction and magnitude of the association between these risk factors is unclear.
PURPOSE: Meta-analytic techniques were used to evaluate the associations among total, high-, and low-density cholesterol (TC, HDL, LDL, respectively) and depression in empirical studies.
METHODS: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and manual search strategies were used to identify descriptive studies reporting associations among TC, HDL, LDL, and depression; 30 reports were found for TC, 16 for HDL, and 11 for LDL. Effect sizes were computed and aggregated in accord with Hedges and Olkin's (Statistical methods for meta-analysis. New York: Academic Press; 1985) procedures.
RESULTS: Higher TC was associated with lower levels of depression, d = -0.29; this association was substantially larger among medication-free samples (d = -0.51). An inverse, non-significant association was observed between LDL and depression (d = -0.17). High HDL was related to higher levels of depression, especially in women (d = 0.20).
CONCLUSIONS: TC and depression were inversely related, with the strongest associations in medically naïve samples, which is noteworthy because such samples should involve fewer confounds. One clinical implication is that the lipids of patients treated for depression should be monitored.
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