Depression and Insulin Resistance

Introduction: Metabolic syndrome and depression are considered to be important risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome is estimated to be around 25% of the adult population in industrialized countries, including the population of Czech Republic. The prevalence of depression is estimated to be around 15% of the same adult population. It is not clear yet on the base of poor literature, which is so far available, whether there is a causal relationship between these factors or not. Objective: To try to find a relationship between metabolic syndrome and depression in a population sample using clinical and metabolic parameters. Methods: The prevalence of depressivity or other psychopathologies was evaluated with the use of self-report questionnaires in a randomly selected population sample of 259 people living in Pilsen. The questionnaires were mailed to the subjects. Those of them who responded were invited to the examination of anthropometric and laboratory parameters defining the metabolic syndrome and to the examination of some other parameters. The occurrence of risk factors of the metabolic syndrome of insulin resistance and the relationship between depression and metabolic syndrome was investigated. Metabolic syndrome of insulin resistance..