Association between Depression and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Workers Undergoing Comprehensive Medical Examination in a University-based Hospital

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Depression increases the risk of cardiovascular risk factors in adults. However, the association between depression and cardiovascular risk factors was not well evaluated in South Korea. Our study was done to evaluate the association between depression and cardiovascular risk factors in workers. METHODS: The study population was selected among adults working in several industries that had more than 50 employees. They had received their medical examinations at the Health Promotion Center of Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital between March and November 2005. We estimated the odds ratio to determine whether depression (Korean Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale score > or =21) was associated with each cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, and obesity). RESULTS: The prevalence of depression was 15.5%. Depression was significantly associated with hypertension (P<0.001), obesity (P=0.03) and hypercholesterolemia (P=0.004). The adjusted odds ratio for hypertension and hypercholesterolemia were 1.41 (95% CI 1.04~1.91) and 1.59 (95% CI 1.05~2.40), respectively. The association between depression and obesity was eliminated after adjustment (1.25, 95% CI 0.97~1.61). CONCLUSION: Depression was significantly associated with hypertension and hypercholesterolemia in workers. Further long-term study on the association of depression with cardiovascular risk factors is necessary.