Yaşlıda serum kolesterolü ve depresyon: Prospektif bir çalışmanın ön sonuçları

Abstract

Background and Design.- In this paper pre¬liminary results of a cohort study on a population over 50 years of age were reported. The aim of the study was 'to investigate whether serum cholesterol level was associated with depression and whether lovastatin treatment was causing depression in patients with high serum cholesterol level. 98 patients over 50 years of age participated in the study. None of the patients had any disabling med¬ical problem. 15 patients with serum cholesterol lev¬els greater than 259 mg/dl were administered lovastin 10'mg/day and invited for a second visit three months later. All of the patients were cogni-tively intact (mini mental state examination score >20). Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression was used to evaluate depression during pre- and posttreat-ment periods. Results.- Serum cholesterol levels showed a mod¬erate inverse correlation (r:-0.52) with depression in the 50-59 age bracket. No correlation was detected in either of other age groups or the whole study pop¬ulation. However there was a slight decrease in the mean depression after treatment compared to pre treatment scores, the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion. - No correlation was detected between serum cholesterol level and depression in the elderly.