Depression Ups Risk of 'Metabolic Syndrome
 (NY, Reuters Health, 7/8/04)

Dr. Leslie S. Kinder of the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, and associates, reviewed data gathered from 6189 healthy individuals, aged 17 to 39, between 1988 and 1994. The scientists found that women who had experienced major depression were more likely than their peers to exhibit signs of metabolic syndrome, including high cholesterol, hypertension, elevated blood sugar and abdominal obesity. These findings may provide an explanation for the link between depression and cardiovascular disease: depression may promote unhealthy behaviors, as well as physical changes, that predispose women to metabolic syndrome, which in turn is a precursor to type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The researchers are puzzled, however, by the fact that the data did not reveal a similar correlation for men.

(Psychosomatic Medicine, May/June 2004)