Serum Lipid Concentrations in Patients with Comorbid Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder

Abstract

Objective: To ex am ine the lipid lev els in a sam ple of pa tients with comorbid gen er al ized anx i ety dis or der (GAD) and ma jor d epres sive dis or der (MDD). Methods: Se rum lipid con cen tra tions were ex am ined in 40 pa tients with both GAD and MDD, in 27 pa tients with MDD only, in 26 pa tients with GAD only, and in 24 healthy con trol sub jects. Results: All mean se rum cho les terol con cen tra tions are pre sented in Ta ble 1. The mean se rum to tal cho les terol con cen tra tion in pa tients with both GAD and MDD was sig nif i cantly higher than in MDD-only pa tients, GAD-only pa tients, and con trol sub jects. The triglyceride con cen tra tion was also sig nif i cantly higher in pa tients with both GAD and M DD than in MDD-only pa tients, GAD-only pa tients, and con trol sub jects. Pa tients with both GAD and MDD had a lower mean high-density li po pro tein cho lesterol (HDL-C) con cen tra tion than did pa tients with GAD only and con trol sub jects. The se rumcon cen tra tion of low-density li p opro tein cho les terol (LDL-C) was higher in pa tients with both GAD and MDD than in pa tients with MDD only and GAD only and healthy con trol sub jects. Conclusions: Our find ings in di cate that the pa tients with both GAD and MDD have in creased se rum cho les t erol, triglyceride, and LDL-C and re duced HDL-C lev els. These pa tients may have a greater risk of mor tal ity from cor o nary ar tery dis ease (CAD) than do pa tients with ei ther de pres sion or anx i ety dis or der.