title: Depressive symptoms and the metabolic syndrome in childhood and adulthood: a prospective cohort study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the reciprocal associations between depressive symptoms and clinical definitions of the metabolic syndrome in childhood and adulthood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Population-based prospective cohort study of 921 participants (538 women and 383 men) in Finland. The components of the metabolic syndrome were measured in childhood (mean age 12 years) and again in adulthood (mean age 33 years). A revised version of the Beck Depression Inventory was used to assess depressive symptoms at the mean ages of 24 and 33.
  
  
  METHODS
  Metabolic syndrome defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP), the European Group for the Study of Insulin Resistance, and the International Diabetes Federation criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In women, depressive symptoms were associated with increased risk of the metabolic syndrome in adulthood (odds ratio for NCEP metabolic syndrome per 1 SD increase in depressive symptoms 1.40, 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.85). The metabolic syndrome in childhood, in turn, predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms in adulthood (p = .03). In men, no associations were found between depressive symptoms and the clinical definitions of the metabolic syndrome.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The process linking depressive symptoms with the metabolic syndrome may go into both directions and may begin early in life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. laura.pulkki-raback@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pulkki-Råback
authors.forename: Marko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elovainio
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kivimäki
authors.forename: Noora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mattsson
authors.forename: Olli T
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Raitakari
authors.forename: Sampsa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Puttonen
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marniemi
authors.forename: Jorma S A
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Viikari
authors.forename: Liisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Keltikangas-Järvinen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009765:Obesity; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult