Inflammatory and vascular correlates of mood change over 8 weeks.

Background: Mood disorders have been associated with a variety of cardiovascular disease risk factors, including inflammation and large artery stiffness, particularly while depressed although longitudinal studies have been limited.

Methods: With measurements at baseline and 8 weeks, the researchers prospectively assessed mood, levels of inflammatory markers (hsCRP and TNF-α), serum lipids, and large artery stiffness in a cohort of 26 participants with a diagnosis of a mood disorder, enriched for current depression. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) at baseline and 8 weeks. Associations between depressive symptoms and other measures were assessed using linear mixed models, unadjusted and adjusted for age and BMI.

Results: The mean age of the participants (n=26) was 41.6 (standard deviation [SD] 12.8) years, and 81% were female. During the study, there was a mean (SD) MADRS score improvement of 9.5 (9.4) from baseline to eight weeks. Reductions in the primary outcome TNF-α with improvement in depression fell short of significance (P=0.076). In secondary analyses, there was a statistically significant association between improved cholesterol ratio (P=0.038) and triglycerides (P=0.042) with depression improvement. There was no statistically significant change in large artery stiffness during the study.

Conclusion: Improved depressive symptoms were associated with improved cholesterol ratios even after adjustment, suggesting possible mechanism by which acute mood states may influence cardiovascular disease risk. Future longitudinal studies with extended and intensive follow-up investigating cardiovascular disease risk related to acute changes and persistence of mood symptoms is warranted.