Depression contributing to dyslipidemic cardiovascular risk in the metabolic syndrome

PURPOSE: Triglycerides are considered an emerging risk factor for cardiovascular mortality. Recent evidence relating depression and metabolic syndrome (MetS) implicated triglyceride levels. We thus investigated interrelations of self-reported depression severity (Zung) and MetS-related biological measures with CVD risk estimates in MetS patients. METHODS: N = 101 patients fulfilling International Diabetes Federation criteria for MetS from a nationwide sampled treatment cohort for MetS with familial T2DM risk or manifest T2DM in a Ukrainian governmental health care system were participants. Both laboratory and non-laboratory measures were included. Recent European cardiological SCORE system CVD risk estimates were used as outcome variables. RESULTS: Following correlation matrix, we entered all variables into principal component analysis (PCA; 76.7% explained variance), followed by hierarchical regression and structural equation modeling (SEM). The PCA suggested a one-factor solution, where the latent variable showed highest loadings of SCORE risk estimates, triglycerides, depression severity, and pulse pressure. A comprehensive SEM was adjusted with 92.7% explained variance: overall CVD risk related to depression, pulse pressure, triglycerides, and fasting glucose. CONCLUSION: The findings in this MetS sample suggest that triglycerides and depression severity are the key variables among MetS biomarkers in cross-sectionally associating with the fatal and total SCORE risk estimates in MetS. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40618-016-0601-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.