Somatic comorbidity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular risk, and CRP in patients with recurrent depressive disorders

AIM: To investigate the association between depression, metabolic syndrome (MBS), somatic, particularly cardiovascular comorbidity, and low-grade chronic inflammation assessed using C-reactive protein (CRP). METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 76 patients with recurrent depressive disorder (RDD) and 72 non-depressed medical staff controls from the Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Center Zagreb between January 2011 and June 2012. RESULTS: Seventy-five percent of patients had somatic comorbidity. The most common comorbid conditions were cardiovascular disorders (46.1%), locomotor system diseases (35.5%), carcinoma (15.8%), thyroid diseases (9.2%), and diabetes (9.2%). MTB was more common in RDD patients (31.6%) than in controls (23.6%), but the difference was not significant. Elevated CRP was found to be significantly more frequent in patients with recurrent depressive disorders (RDD) (35.5%; χ(2) test, P = 0.001, Cramer V = 0.29) than in controls (12.5%) and was associated with lowered high-density lipoprotein and overweight/obesity. CONCLUSION: We found some intriguing links between stress, depression, metabolic syndrome, and low grade inflammation, which may be relevant for the prevalence of somatic comorbidity in patients with RDD, but further studies are needed to confirm our results.