title: Carotid atherosclerosis in depression and anxiety: associations for age of depression onset.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Mental health and cardiovascular disease have been associated, whereas the temporal course and underlying mechanisms are still incompletely understood. Our aims were to examine the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis in subjects with depressive or anxiety disorder, also taking into account disorder characteristics (subtype, severity, duration, age of onset, medication).
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample included 470 depression or anxiety cases and 179 controls, aged 20-66 years, participating in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA). Diagnoses were assigned using the DSM-IV based Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and plaque information were obtained using B-mode ultrasound imaging.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, depressive and anxiety disorders were not associated with carotid atherosclerosis. However, age of depression onset was associated with CIMT (total: 0.01 mm per 10 years, P = 0.01; bifurcation: 0.02 mm per 10 years, P = 0.003) and plaque presence (OR = 1.35 per 10 years, 95%CI = 1.02-1.80, P = 0.04). When compared with controls, late-onset (≥ 40 years) depressed had an increased CIMT in the atherosclerosis progression-prone bifurcation segment (0.75 vs. 0.81 mm, P = 0.004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest a distinct pathophysiology of late-onset as compared with early-onset depression, including a vascular component.
authors: EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a.seldenrijk@ggzingeest.nl
authors: Adrie
authors: A
authors: Seldenrijk
authors: Hein P J
authors: HP
authors: van Hout
authors: Harm W J
authors: HW
authors: van Marwijk
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: de Groot
authors: Johan
authors: J
authors: Gort
authors: Cees
authors: C
authors: Rustemeijer
authors: Michaela
authors: M
authors: Diamant
authors: Brenda W J H
authors: BW
authors: Penninx
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult