Depressive symptoms and the metabolic syndrome in childhood and adulthood: a prospective cohort study.
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.
Pulkki-Råback
Laura
L
Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. laura.pulkki-raback@helsinki.fi
Elovainio
Marko
M
Kivimäki
Mika
M
Mattsson
Noora
N
Raitakari
Olli T
OT
Puttonen
Sampsa
S
Marniemi
Jukka
J
Viikari
Jorma S A
JS
Keltikangas-Järvinen
Liisa
L
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