Mediterranean diet and depression: a population-based cohort study

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Marie Löf¹  Christina M. Hultman²  Sven Sandin³  Fang Fang⁴  Weiyao Yin⁵  Ruoqing Chen⁶ 

[1] Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden;Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Psychiatry, Ichan School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York, USA;Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, New York, USA;Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Box 210, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden;Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Box 210, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China;School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China;Department of Medicine Solna, Clinical Epidemiology Division, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;

关键词: Depression;    Mental health;    Mediterranean;    Diet;    women’s health;    Cohort studies;    Epidemiology;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12966-021-01227-3

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDepression imposes immense public health burden, demonstrating an urgent need of the identification of modifiable risk factors. Only a few cohort studies have analyzed the association between Mediterranean dietary pattern (MDP) and depression but with mixed results. We examined the impact of MDP on clinically ascertained depression in a large population-based dataset.MethodsIn 1991/92, detailed information on diet, using a food frequency questionnaire, and potential confounding factors (body weight, height, educational attainment, smoking, previous diabetes and hypertension, and physical activity) was collected, in a random sample of 49,261 Swedish women aged 29-49. Adherence to MDP was calculated. Clinical depression was extracted from the National Patient Register. Study participants were followed up through 2012.ResultsDuring an average follow-up of 20.4 years, 1677 incident cases of depression were diagnosed. We observed a lower risk of depression for medium (score 4-5) and high (6-9) adherence to MDP, compared with low (0-3) adherence (Medium: hazard ratio (HR) = 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.81-1.00; High: HR = 0.82, 95%CI = 0.71-0.94). Per unit increase of adherence, the risk of depression was reduced by 5% (HR = 0.95, 95%CI = 0.92-0.98). The association became stronger when restricting to severe form of depression (HR = 0.51, 95%CI = 0.33-0.76). The HRs were higher from age 50 onward both over the first and the second 10-year follow-up period, compared with before age 50, indicating stronger association with increasing age. Results remained after extensive sensitivity analyses.ConclusionHigher adherence to a Mediterranean diet at middle age was associated with a lower risk of depression later in life among Swedish women.

【 授权许可】

CC BY