Impaired hormonal regulation of appetite may contribute to higher cardiovascular risk in bipolar disorder (BD). We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies investigating peripheral blood levels of appetite-regulating hormones in BD and controls. A total of 32 studies were included. Leptin and insulin levels were significantly elevated in patients with BD during euthymia, but not in other mood states. Greater differences in the number of male participants between patients with BD and healthy controls were associated with higher effect size estimates for the levels of insulin. There were significant positive correlations of effect size estimates for the levels of adiponectin with the percentage of individuals with type I BD and duration of BD. Our findings point to the mechanisms underlying high rates of cardiometabolic comorbidities in BD. Moreover, they suggest that investigating hormonal regulation of appetite might help to understand differences in the neurobiology of BD types.
Keywords: Adiposity; Depression; Mood disorder; Obesity; Overweight.
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