Low serum thyroid-stimulating hormone levels are associated with lipid profile in depressive patients with long symptom duration.

OBJECTIVE: The current study was designed to investigate the association between serum thyroid hormones and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels with lipid profile in depressive disorder.

METHODS: A total of 370 depressive individuals aged 18 years and above were recruited in this cross-section study. All participants underwent a Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) and recorded the duration of their symptoms. The serum levels of total cholesterol (TCH), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), lipoprotein A (Lp(a)), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), free thyroxine (FT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3) and TSH levels were determined and the ratios of TCH/HDL-C were assessed.

RESULTS: Depressed subjects with a symptom duration ≥3 years had higher TG levels, increased TCH/HDL-C ratios and lower levels of HDL-C, FT4 and TSH compared with depressive patients with a symptom duration <3 years. Correlation analysis displayed that TSH is positively and significantly associated with TCH and LDL-C (p<0.05); the above FT4 and FT3 are negatively, significantly and respectively associated with TCH/HDL-C (p<0.05) and TCH, HDL-C, LDL-C (p<0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that serum TG and TSH levels are associated with depressive symptom duration.

CONCLUSIONS: According to our results,These findings indicate that low serum TSH levels are associated with lipid profile, TG and TSH levels have significant association with symptom duration in depressive patients.