A Longitudinal Analysis of Metabolic Syndrome and its Impact on Mental Health-Related Quality of Life and the Development of Depression
Abstract
As the prevalence of obesity continues to increase in the United States, metabolic syndrome (MetS) has become a major public health concern. For a person to be diagnosed with MetS, they need to have increased waist circumference and at least two more of the following risk factors: elevated triglyceride levels, high blood pressure, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, and elevated blood sugar. Many studies have found varying results when assessing the associations between MetS and depression as well as its effects on quality of life (QoL). The aims of the present study were to: 1) analyze whether individuals with MetS had a higher rate of depressive symptoms, and 2) analyze whether individuals with MetS had decreased mental health-related QoL (MH-QoL) over time. The dataset used for this study was derived from the Fels Longitudinal Study and included 1,083 non-Hispanic white participants between the ages of 18-93. A cross-sectional dataset consisting of 799 participants and a longitudinal dataset consisting of 1,015 participants was constructed. Participants were classified as having MetS if they met the criteria determined by the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (AHA/NHLBI). The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to assess the severity of depressive symptoms. The Medical Outcomes 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) was used to assess MH-QoL. Total and sex-stratified logistic regressions were conducted for the cross-sectional analysis and sex-stratified mixed effect logistic regressions with an unstructured covariance matrix were conducted for the longitudinal analysis. MetS was found to be significantly associated with depressive symptoms among the total sample and among women. MetS was also found to be significantly associated with low MH-QoL in both men and women, with the effect of MetS being dependent on age for men with MetS. The associations between MetS and depressive symptoms observed among women could be explained by findings that indicate higher BMI was significantly associated with increased reports of perceived stigma regarding weight. The results from the longitudinal analysis may suggest that overall QoL in men with MetS improves with age. Future research should be conducted to get a better understanding of these relationships.
Subject Area
Mental health|Public health|Epidemiology
Recommended Citation
Limon, Victoria Marie, "A Longitudinal Analysis of Metabolic Syndrome and its Impact on Mental Health-Related Quality of Life and the Development of Depression" (2018). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). AAI10790436.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/dissertations/AAI10790436