Associations between depression and unhealthy behaviours related to metabolic syndrome: a cross sectional study

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether depression was associated with metabolic syndrome and unhealthy behaviours in community residents.

Using the 2009-2010 baseline data of the Saku Cohort Study, 1,225 men and women who participated in a community health screening were included in the cross-sectional analyses. Depression was assessed using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale. Consistent with the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine's definition, we defined metabolic syndrome as abdominal obesity plus two or more of the following: high blood pressure, hyperglycaemia, and dyslipidaemia. We defined 'pre- and metabolic syndrome' as the presence of one or more of the three criteria in addition to abdominal obesity.

There was no significant association between depression and metabolic syndrome. In women, the prevalence of pre- and metabolic syndrome was significantly higher in the depression group than that in the non-depression group (17.5% vs 9.5%, p=0.046), whereas no such significant association was observed in men. Logistic regression analysis showed that depression was associated with unhealthy behavioural factors differently in men and women.

This study revealed that depression was associated with several unhealthy behavioural factors in both men and women, but depression was associated with pre- and metabolic syndrome only in women. These findings suggest that depression may be a warning sign of metabolic syndrome in women with unhealthy behavioural factors. Psychological factors should be considered in addition to the assessment of physical status.