Low serum cholesterol levels and depressive state in human dock visitors.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the present study was to investigate an association between serum cholesterol levels and depressive state.


METHODS
Physical examinations and mental assessments were performed for 13702 human dock visitors. We obtained 13571 sets of complete data for serum total cholesterol, the scores for depressive state and possible confounders such as sex, age, body weight, body mass index (BMI), recent weight loss, total protein and concomitant medical diagnoses.


RESULTS
Their depressive state varied significantly across the serum cholesterol levels after adjusting age and gender. After controlling all the above confounding variables the significance still remained, not only in the categorical analysis but also in the continuous analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
The present findings suggest that there is an association between cholesterol and depressive state.
Terao
T
T
Department of Psychiatry, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan.
Iwata
N
N
Kanazawa
K
K
Takano
T
T
Takahashi
N
N
Hayashi
T
T
Sugawara
Y
Y
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D003863:Depression / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology; D000092864:Suicide Prevention
D002784:Cholesterol