Dietary patterns are associated with the prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms and the risk of getting a hospital discharge diagnosis of depression in middle-aged or older Finnish men

Anu Ruusunen; Soili M Lehto; Jaakko Mursu; Tommi Tolmunen; Tomi-Pekka Tuomainen; Jussi Kauhanen; Sari Voutilainen

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2014.01.020

Dietary patterns are associated with the prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms and the risk of getting a hospital discharge diagnosis of depression in middle-aged or older Finnish men

J Affect Disord. 2014 Apr:159:1-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2014.01.020. Epub 2014 Feb 14.

Authors

Anu Ruusunen¹, Soili M Lehto², Jaakko Mursu³, Tommi Tolmunen⁴, Tomi-Pekka Tuomainen³, Jussi Kauhanen³, Sari Voutilainen³

Affiliations

¹ University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio Campus, Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: anu.ruusunen@uef.fi.
² Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
³ University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio Campus, Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland; Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.

PMID: 24679382
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2014.01.020

Abstract

Background: Previous studies assessing the role of dietary factors in depression have mainly focused on nutrients, while the association between dietary patterns and depression is less studied.

Objective: The aim was to assess the role of dietary patterns in depression in both cross-sectional and prospective analyses.

Design: The study population consisted of 1003 Finnish middle-aged or older men from the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study. Food consumption was assessed by food frequency questionnaire in 1991-1993 and dietary patterns from 25 predefined food groups were extracted by factor analysis. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the self-administered Human Population Laboratory Depression Scale, cut-off point of five or more indicating elevated depressive symptoms.

Results: Altogether 72 (7.2%) subjects had elevated depressive symptoms. Three dietary patterns were identified: "prudent", "Western" and "mixed". In cross-sectional analysis, after adjustments for age, examination year, BMI, smoking, alcohol consumption, education, marital status, leisure-time physical activity, history of mental illness and cardiovascular disease the prudent dietary pattern was associated with a 25% lower prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms (OR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.57, 0.99; P=0.036), whereas the Western dietary pattern was associated with increased prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms (OR: 1.41; 95% CI: 1.08, 1.84; P=0.011). In the prospective analysis (16.5 follow-up years), the prudent dietary pattern was inversely associated with the risk of getting a hospital discharge diagnosis of depression (HR: 0.66; 95% CI 0.47, 0.93; P=0.018).

Conclusions: Adherence to healthy dietary pattern is associated with lower risk of getting a hospital discharge diagnosis of depression.

Keywords: Depression; Depressive symptoms; Diet; Dietary pattern; Factor analysis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depression / diagnosis
Depression / epidemiology*
Depression / psychology*
Diet / psychology*
Diet / statistics & numerical data
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Feeding Behavior / psychology*
Finland / epidemiology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Patient Discharge
Prevalence
Prospective Studies
Risk Assessment
Risk Factors