Overweight or Obesity Rate and Risk Factors in First-Episode and Drug-Naïve Patients with Major Depressive Disorder with Comorbid Abnormal Lipid Metabolism: A Large-Scale Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Overweight and obesity are frequent symptoms in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and abnormal lipid metabolism (ALM). There are no studies on the rate, risk factors, and underlying mechanisms of overweight/obesity in Chinese patients with MDD with comorbid ALM. The purpose of this study was to examine the rate of overweight/obesity and the associated risk factors among Chinese patients with MDD first-episode and drug-naïve (FEDN) with comorbid ALM. This study was a cross-sectional research work. A total of 1718 patients were enrolled. Their clinical and laboratory data were obtained. All participants were assessed with the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA), and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) positive subscale. The plasma total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triacylglycerols (TG), blood glucose concentrations, thyroid peroxidase antibody (A-TPO), thyoglubulin antibody (A-TG), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyoxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3), and blood glucose concentrations were measured. ALM was identified as elevations in the plasma lipid values in this study. Of all the included subjects, the rate of ALM was 81.1%. The rate of obesity and overweight was 3.94% and 57.21%, respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed that TSH was the independent risk factor for overweight or obesity in MDD patients (adjusted OR = 1.158, 95%CI = 1.081–1.24, p < 0.001). The risk of developing overweight or obesity in MDD with ALM with comorbid TSH abnormalities was 2.176 times higher than those without TSH abnormalities (p < 0.001). Further linear regression showed TSH level (B = 0.1, t = 3.376, p = 0.001) and systolic blood pressure (B = 0.015, t = 2.351, p = 0.019) were risk factors for a higher body mass index (BMI). Our results demonstrate that being overweight is very frequent among patients with FEDN MDD with comorbid ALM but not obesity. TSH was the risk factor for overweight and obesity in MDD patients with comorbid ALM.