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Low serum HDL-cholesterol levels are associated with long symptom duration in patients with major depressive disorder

  1. Soili M. Lehto MD, PhD1,3,*,
  2. Leo Niskanen MD, PhD2,
  3. Tommi Tolmunen MD, PhD1,
  4. Jukka Hintikka MD, PhD1,
  5. Heimo Viinamäki MD, PhD1,
  6. Tuula Heiskanen MD1,
  7. Kirsi Honkalampi PhD1,3,
  8. Marja Kokkonen MSc1,
  9. Heli Koivumaa-Honkanen MD, PhD4,5

Article first published online: 30 MAR 2010

DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2010.02079.x

Issue

Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences

Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences

Volume 64, Issue 3, pages 279–283, June 2010

Additional Information

How to Cite

Lehto, S. M., Niskanen, L., Tolmunen, T., Hintikka, J., Viinamäki, H., Heiskanen, T., Honkalampi, K., Kokkonen, M. and Koivumaa-Honkanen, H. (2010), Low serum HDL-cholesterol levels are associated with long symptom duration in patients with major depressive disorder. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 64: 279–283. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2010.02079.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Departments of Psychiatry and

  2. 2

    Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital,

  3. 3

    Kuopio Psychiatric Center, Kuopio,

  4. 4

    Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu and

  5. 5

    Department of Psychiatry, Lapland Hospital District, Rovaniemi, Finland

* Soili M. Lehto, MD, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, PO Box 1777, FIN-70210 Kuopio, Finland. Email: soili.lehto@kuh.fi

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 18 MAY 2010
  2. Article first published online: 30 MAR 2010
  3. Received 30 June 2009; revised 29 December 2009; accepted 26 January 2010.

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Keywords:

  • cholesterol;
  • depression;
  • high-density lipoprotein;
  • lipids;
  • major depressive disorder

Aims:  The purpose of the present study was to examine whether the association between depression and the serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) is modified by symptom duration.

Methods:  Depressed patients (n = 88) and an age- and sex-matched group of healthy general population controls (n = 88) underwent a Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID), and depressed participants reported the duration of their symptoms. The serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), HDL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG) and non-HDL, and the ratios of LDL-C/HDL and TC/HDL-C were assessed.

Results:  Major depressive disorder (MDD) subjects with a long symptom duration (≥3 years) had lower levels of HDL-C compared with healthy controls or MDD subjects with a symptom duration <3 years. The likelihood for long symptom duration doubled for each 0.5-mmol/L decrease in HDL-C levels in regression models adjusted for age, gender, marital status, overweight, symptom severity, alcohol consumption, smoking, physical exercise, medication use, and non-HDL-C (P < 0.05).

Conclusions:  These findings suggest that a low serum HDL-C level, a risk factor for coronary heart disease, is specifically associated with long-term depressive symptomatology.

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