Hypercholesterolemia is considered a significant risk factor for heart disease. Consequently many are treated with cholesterol lowering drugs. Epidemiological studies of this treatment population have reported more deaths by non-medical causes then would be expected. These include murder, suicide and accidents. Consequently, the relationship between cholesterol and depression has been widely studied. Studies have found a relationship between low cholesterol in a number of groups including: young women, the elderly and postmenopausal women. This pilot study investigated the relationship between cholesterol, depression and other known risk factors for heart disease. Subjects were recruited from two worksites in southwestern New Jersey, (N=93). The sample included local police (n=30) and staff and faculty (n=63) from the local university. The sample was split evenly between males (n= 45) and females (n= 48). 52% of the subjects tested had Total Cholesterol(TC) readings of >200 mg/dl. There was no significant difference between men and women regarding their total cholesterol. ANOVA tables, Spearmen Rank Correlation Statistics and Mann Whitney UTests were applied to the data. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to measure depressive symptoms. A global measure of perceived stress, which rated high and low perceptions of stress on a scale from 1 to 10. (1=not stressed at all, 10 = most possible stress) was also used.
The Results: 21 % of the sample reported having a mild mood disorder or worse. 12% had borderline clinical depression and 6% could be classified as having major depression. The Spearmen Rank Test showed a significant inverse relationship between BDI and LDL and between the BDI and TC to HDL ratio. (Rho= -.362, p-value= < .0021 and Rho = - .227, p-value < .034 respectively) but not with other tested risk factors. ANOVA tables revealed a significant interaction between gender and scores on the BDI. There was no significant relationship between age and BDI scores in this sample. Conclusion: These results are limited by small sample size and possible measurement errors resulting from the cholesterol testing procedure but consistent with other research. It suggests that health promotion professionals need to be aware of the possibility that lowering cholesterol and naturally low LDL levels may be related to depressive symptoms and that education regarding this possibility should be a part of cholesterol screenings in worksites. Depression self-help material should be provided along with a list of mental health providers.