title: Is alexithymia associated with metabolic syndrome? A study in a healthy adult population.
abstract: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a constellation of risk factors for, in particular, cardiovascular diseases and increased mortality, and it constitutes a major clinical challenge affecting millions of lives. Alexithymia is a condition that has been linked with several mental diseases and symptoms, as well as somatic illnesses, including essential hypertension and diabetes mellitus. However, there is limited research on the association of alexithymia and MetS. The aim of the present study was to comprehensively explore this association in a large (n=1648) non-clinical sample of adults. Logistic regression analyses were applied to the five separate MetS components as well as the MetS diagnosis, and the analyses included a number of sociodemographic variables and depressive symptoms as covariates. The results confirmed the previous finding of alexithymic features being independently and significantly associated with hypertension. As a new finding, this association appears to be related to two particular dimensions of alexithymia, namely difficulty describing feelings and externally oriented thinking. Interestingly, alexithymic features were also separately significantly associated with waist circumference and triglycerides as well as the MetS diagnosis. Depressive symptoms did not have any significant effect on the relations of alexithymia and MetS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; Psychiatric Care Division, Satakunta Hospital District, Harjavalta, Finland. Electronic address: max.karukivi@utu.fi.
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karukivi
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jula
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Tampere and Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hutri-Kähönen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; Division of Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Juonala
authors.affiliation: Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Olli
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Raitakari
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Depression; Emotion; Hypertension; Somatic illness