Associations of uric acid and lipids with depression, dimensions of depression and anxiety symptoms.

OBJECTIVE

Discovering biological correlates of depression (and symptom dimensions) and anxiety is a topic of ongoing research. We aimed to examine the associations of uric acid (UA) and lipids with depression (sum and emotional, neurovegetative, cognitive dimension) and anxiety symptoms.

METHODS

Participants were screened for depression and anxiety symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaires, respectively, in primary care in Greece during January-June 2022. Serum UA and lipids were recorded and socio-demographic, behavioral, and personal history covariates were also collected. Poisson regression analyses were performed to determine associations between recorded parameters and the PHQ-9 (sum-score and emotional, neurovegetative, cognitive dimension) and GAD-7 scores.

RESULTS

A total of 181 individuals answered the questionnaires. The mean age was 61.8 ± 10.8 years, and 68% were female. The prevalence of clinically significant depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 10) and anxiety (GAD-7 ≥ 10) symptoms was 20.4%, respectively. PHQ-9 score was negatively associated with UA, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and income, and positively with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and physical activity. The neurovegetative dimension of the PHQ-9 score was negatively associated with UA and HDL-C, while the cognitive was positively associated with LDL-C. GAD-7 score was negatively associated with HDL-C and income, and positively with LDL-C and physical activity, while it was higher in females and smokers.

CONCLUSIONS

Both UA and lipids were associated with depression and anxiety symptoms. The neurovegetative and cognitive symptoms of depression exhibited different biological correlates with low UA and HDL-C, and high LDL-C, respectively.