Does waist circumference or metabolic syndrome predict the onset or persistence of depression in late life?
Depression accompanied by metabolic abnormalities may represent a distinct, chronic subtype termed 'metabolic depression'.
In late life, waist circumference, but not metabolic syndrome, predicted onset of depression. Depressed persons with metabolic syndrome were more likely to have persistent or recurrent depression. The latter may suggest that depression with metabolic abnormalities, which could be labeled metabolic depression, identifies a chronic subtype of depression.
Vogelzangs et al. (Mon,) studied this question.