Abstract
Medical students, with their heavy workload are likely to suffer from depression, which is known to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. We investigated the relationship between depression and risk factors for life style-related disease in Japanese medical students. Male medical students (N = 59: 20.8±1.8 years) participated in the study. Their level of depression was evaluated using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Risk factors associated with the metabolic syndrome, such as blood pressure, body mass index, glucosegulatory system and lipid profile were also evaluated. In addition, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were estimated as surrogate makers of atherosclerosis. One-way analysis of variance and partial correlation analysis revealed that CES-D score was significantly and inversely correlated with baPWV, blood pressure and LDL-Cholesterol, whereas the high CES-D group showed significantly higher level of fasting insulin. It is concluded that although young medical students are not always depressed, those with high CES-D scores have signs of insulin resistance, which is an initial sign of metabolic deterioration, suggesting the possibility of developing cardiovascular risks, such as the metabolic syndrome in the future.
