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

Background and Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to determine whether depression was associated with metabolic syndrome and unhealthy behaviours in community residents. Methods and Study Design: 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. Results: 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. Conclusions: 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.