Association Between Self-rating Depression Scores and Total Ghrelin and Adipokine Serum Levels in a Large Population-Based Sample

Dirk Alexander Wittekind; Jürgen Kratzsch; Ronald Biemann; Roland Mergl; Steffi Riedel-Heller; Veronika Witte; Arno Villringer; Michael Kluge

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.891325

Association Between Self-rating Depression Scores and Total Ghrelin and Adipokine Serum Levels in a Large Population-Based Sample

Front Psychiatry. 2022 May 11:13:891325. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.891325. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Dirk Alexander Wittekind¹, Jürgen Kratzsch², Ronald Biemann², Roland Mergl³, Steffi Riedel-Heller⁴, Veronika Witte⁵, Arno Villringer⁵, Michael Kluge¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
² Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnostics, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
³ Institute of Psychology, Universität der Bundeswehr München, Neubiberg, Germany.
⁴ Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.

Abstract

Background: Ghrelin and the adipokines leptin and adiponectin have been suggested to be involved in mood and anxiety regulation and to be altered in affective disorders. However, studies investigating the association between ghrelin, leptin and adiponectin and depressive symptomatology are scarce but might contribute to a better understanding of their involvement in mood regulation. We thus aimed investigating the association between depressive symptomatology and total ghrelin as well as leptin and adiponectin serum levels in a large population-based sample.

Methods: Total serum ghrelin, adiponectin and leptin levels were determined in 1666 subjects of a population-based cross-sectional study ("LIFE"). The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Inventory of Depressive Symptoms - Self Rating (IDS-SR) were administered. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between total serum ghrelin, leptin and adiponectin and the intensity of depressive symptoms.

Results: In the total sample (n = 1,092), neither ghrelin nor leptin or adiponectin serum levels showed a significant association with CES-D or IDS-SR sum scores (N = 1,092) or in depressed/non-depressed subjects. Leptin serum levels showed a significantly positive association with IDS-SR sum scores in elderly men (≥60 years; β = 0.122, 95% CI: 0.009; 0.236; p = 0.035).

Conclusion: Our study suggests that peripheral levels of ghrelin and adipokines in a cross-sectional study design might not be sufficient to measure their involvement in depression, suggesting that associations are more complex and multi-layered.

Keywords: CES-D; IDS-SR; adiponectin; depression; ghrelin; leptin.