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. 2020 Mar:122:97-104.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.12.016. Epub 2020 Jan 2.

Seasonal affective disorder and seasonal changes in weight and sleep duration are inversely associated with plasma adiponectin levels

Faisal Akram  1 , Claudia Gragnoli  2 , Uttam K Raheja  1 , Soren Snitker  3 , Christopher A Lowry  4 , Kelly A Stearns-Yoder  5 , Andrew J Hoisington  6 , Lisa A Brenner  7 , Erika Saunders  8 , John W Stiller  1 , Kathleen A Ryan  3 , Kelly J Rohan  9 , Braxton D Mitchell  10 , Teodor T Postolache  11
Affiliations

Seasonal affective disorder and seasonal changes in weight and sleep duration are inversely associated with plasma adiponectin levels

Faisal Akram et al. J Psychiatr Res. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Overlapping pathways between mood and metabolic regulation have increasingly been reported. Although impaired regulation of adiponectin, a major metabolism-regulating hormone, has been implicated in major depressive disorder, its role in seasonal changes in mood and seasonal affective disorder-winter type (SAD), a disorder characterized by onset of mood impairment and metabolic dysregulation (e.g., carbohydrate craving and weight gain) in fall/winter and spontaneous alleviation in spring/summer, has not been previously studied. We studied a convenience sample of 636 Old Order Amish (mean (± SD), 53.6 (±14.8) years; 50.1% males), a population with self-imposed restriction on network electric light at home, and low prevalence of total SAD (t-SAD = syndromal + subsyndromal). We calculated the global seasonality score (GSS), estimated SAD and subsyndromal-SAD after obtaining Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaires (SPAQs), and measured overnight fasting plasma adiponectin levels. We then tested associations between plasma adiponectin levels and GSS, t-SAD, winter-summer difference in self-reported sleep duration, and self-reported seasonal weight change, by using analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) and linear regression analysis after adjusting for age, gender, and BMI. Participants with t-SAD (N = 14; 2.2%) had significantly lower plasma adiponectin levels (mean ± SEM, 8.76 ± 1.56 μg/mL) than those without t-SAD (mean ± SEM, 11.93 ± 0.22 μg/mL) (p = 0.035). In addition, there was significant negative association between adiponectin levels and winter-summer difference in self-reported sleep duration (p = 0.025) and between adiponectin levels and self-reported seasonal change in weight (p = 0.006). There was no significant association between GSS and adiponectin levels (p = 0.88). To our knowledge, this is the first study testing the association of SAD with adiponectin levels. Replication and extension of our findings longitudinally and, then, interventionally, may implicate low adiponectin as a novel target for therapeutic intervention in SAD.

Keywords: Adiponectin; Seasonal affective disorder; Seasonality.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest Authors declare no conflict of interest. SS is currently an employee of Novo Nordisk A/S, which did not contribute to the study monetarily or in any kind.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Mean (± SEM) plasma adiponectin levels in individuals with and without total-SAD (combined syndromal and subsyndromal SAD)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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