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. 2009 Jan;28(1):108-16.
doi: 10.1037/a0012646.

Depressive symptoms and the metabolic syndrome in childhood and adulthood: a prospective cohort study

Laura Pulkki-Råback  1 , Marko Elovainio, Mika Kivimäki, Noora Mattsson, Olli T Raitakari, Sampsa Puttonen, Jukka Marniemi, Jorma S A Viikari, Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen
Affiliations

Depressive symptoms and the metabolic syndrome in childhood and adulthood: a prospective cohort study

Laura Pulkki-Råback et al. Health Psychol. 2009 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the reciprocal associations between depressive symptoms and clinical definitions of the metabolic syndrome in childhood and adulthood.

Design: 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.

Main outcome measures: 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.

Conclusion: The process linking depressive symptoms with the metabolic syndrome may go into both directions and may begin early in life.

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Figure 1
Figure 1
Adulthood depressive symptoms according to presence of the metabolic syndrome over the life-course in women.
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