Serum cholesterol and depressive symptoms in elderly Finnish men.
OBJECTIVE
Evidence from previous studies suggests that alterations in lipid levels may be associated with depression in old age. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between serum lipids and depressive symptoms in a population of elderly men.


METHODS
Altogether 470 men born between 1900 and 1919 were examined in the 30-year follow-up of the Seven Countries Study in 1989. Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale was used to determine the depressive status of the subjects. The depressive status was dichotomised and used as the dependent variable in the present study.


RESULTS
The depressive status was available for 421 men aged 70 to 89 years in 1989. The prevalence of depression, defined as the Zung sum score equal to or greater than 48, was 15.2% (n = 64). A low serum total cholesterol (odds ratio (OR) 0.67, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.48-0.94, p = 0.022) and low low density lipoprotein cholesterol (OR 0.67, 95% CI: 0.46-0.98, p = 0.041) were independently associated with depression. No association with depression was found for high density lipoprotein (HDL) concentration or HDL/total cholesterol ratio after the adjustment for other putative correlates for depression.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study of a well-documented population of elderly Finnish men confirms that low total serum cholesterol is associated with a high amount of depressive symptoms independently of weight change or chronic disease. Our study is the first to show an independent association of low LDL-cholesterol concentration with a high amount of depressive symptoms in the old-old.
Department of Public Health and General Practice, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland. sinikka.aijanseppa@ktl.fi
Sinikka
S
Aijänseppä
Paula
P
Kivinen
Eeva-Liisa
EL
Helkala
Sirkka-Liisa
SL
Kivelä
Jaakko
J
Tuomilehto
Aulikki
A
Nissinen
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors
D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D002784:Cholesterol