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Association of serum lipid levels with depression

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Original Article

Author Details : Anikha Bellad, Chandru M C*, Mahesh Desai, Arunkumar C

Volume : 6, Issue : 3, Year : 2019

Article Page : 270-274

https://doi.org/10.18231/j.ijcbr.2019.060

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Abstract

Introduction and Objectives: Depression is a type of mood disorder. It is considered as one among the
major health problems worldwide as it is highly prevalent in general population and leads to significant loss
of quality of life and social functioning in the affected individual. It has been postulated that changes in the
cholesterol content of the synaptosomal membrane leads to decrease in the number of serotonin receptors
due to decrease in cholesterol concentration leading to depression. Nevertheless, there are contradictory
opinions about the association of serum lipid levels and depression. Thus, the present study was undertaken
to study the association of serum lipid levels with depression.
Materials and Methods: A case control study was conducted including 100 age and sex matched
diagnosed cases of depression and 100 age and sex matched healthy individuals as controls. In all the
subjects, serum levels of triglycerides (TG) was estimated by GPO-PAP method, total cholesterol (TC)
by CHOD-PAP method, LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) by direct assay and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) by
CHOD-PAP method. Results were expressed as mean SD. Student’s independent t-test was used
for comparing the means of two groups. Relationship between parameters was assessed by Pearson’s
correlation coefficient by using SPSS (Statistical package for social sciences) software version 19. For all
the tests, the probability value (p-value) of less than 0.05 is considered statistically significant.
Results: Serum levels of TC were significantly lower in cases of depression compared to controls and
found no difference with TG, LDL-C and HDL-C levels. We also observed from the results that, there was
a negative correlation between TG, TC, LDL-C and HRSD scores which was found to be highly significant
statistically.
Conclusion: In conclusion, serum TC level was significantly lower in depression cases compared to
controls and also has high negative correlation with HRSD score. Thus, the patients with low serum
cholesterol levels should be screened for depression and further studies may establish serum cholesterol as
a new biological marker for depression.

Keywords: Depressive disorder, Mood disorders, Serotonin Receptors, Cholesterol

How to cite : Bellad A, Chandru M C, Desai M, Arunkumar C, Association of serum lipid levels with depression. Int J Clin Biochem Res 2019;6(3):270-274

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