Association between serum malondialdehyde levels and depression during early methamphetamine withdrawal

Some evidence suggested that malondialdehyde (MDA) as a marker of oxidative stress played an important part in modulating the activities of depression. Methamphetamine (METH) dependence often lead to depression that may associate with MDA. In this study, our purpose was to explore the association between serum MDA levels and depression during METH withdrawal. 179 METH-dependent patients were recruited in this study and 144 (80.4%) finished the assessment. We measured serum MDA at 532 nm spectrophotometrically at admission. The short form of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13) was used to evaluate depression symptoms. Patients were identified to have depression symptoms with the BDI score ≥ 8. As a result, 89 (61.8%) of the remaining 144 METH-dependent patients were identified to have depression symptoms. Patients with depression symptoms showed significantly higher serum MDA levels than non-depression patients (3.42 ± 1.60 nmol/ml vs. 2.43 ± 1.25 nmol/ml; p <  0.001). After controlling for potential confounding variables in our logistic model, serum MDA levels were independently associated with the development of depression during early METH withdrawal (OR =1.952, 95% CI, 1.414-2.694, p < 0.001). Furthermore, our study found a positive association between Beck Depression Inventor (BDI) score in early METH abstinence and serum MDA levels (r =0.185; p =  0.026). Our results indicated that higher serum MDA levels were related to higher risk of depression symptoms during early METH withdrawal.