Investigating the association between familial hypercholesterolemia and perceived depression

Inherited familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) increases cardiovascular risks, but perceived depression in FH is unknown. This study aims to explore the association between the FH and perceived depression.

This study was a hospital-based design, we started to recruit clinical diagnosis of phenotypic FH since 2014 for the Ten Countries Study in the Asia-Pacific region. We consecutively recruited 302 FH patients and other 414 comparison subjects (214 subjects with hypertriglyceridemia and 200 subjects with normal lipid controls) from the special lipid clinic of National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei. All participants received cardiovascular health examinations and completed a self-reported questionnaire, including the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) for assessment of the psychosocial depression.

Clinical FH patients had a higher risk of perceived depression, with an odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) of possible depression by 1.50 (1.07-2.11) and probable depression by 1.73 (1.10-2.75) than those of the non-FH groups after adjusted relevant cardiovascular risk factors. FH patients with a family history of coronary heart disease (CHD) had higher domain-specific depression scores than those of controls. In addition, this study found that FH patients with lower educational levels also had a higher risk of depression compared with those in control groups.

Patients with clinical phenotype of FH are associated with subjectively perceived depression, particularly among FH patients with a family history of CHD.