title: The relationship between statins and depression: a review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Statins have been widely used in clinical practice; however, the association between statin use and depression is complex as research findings have been mixed. We know that cholesterol plays an important role in the serotonin system, so statins used to lower cholesterol may lead to the occurrence of depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  This article reviews i) cholesterol function in the brain, ii) how low cholesterol can cause depression, iii) a brief introduction of the serotonin system and how low cholesterol can disturb it, iv) neurosteroids and how they may lead to depression, and v) some direct evidence that statins can cause depression as well as contradicting evidence. Preparation of this article included an extensive literature search of statins and depression using PubMed from 1972 to 2012.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This article shows that statins could lead to depression by lowering cholesterol and that we should draw attention to this in clinical application, especially for patients complicated with depressive symptoms or low serum cholesterol levels.
authors.affiliation: Xiangya No. 2 Hospital of Central South University, Department of Neurology, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China. youhong0323@163.com
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: You
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Shuiping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Zhiping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Jinnan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D003863:Depression / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects*; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; D012701:Serotonin; D002784:Cholesterol