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BackgroundInflammation and metabolic dysregulation are age-related physiological changes and are associated with depressive disorder. We tried to identify subgroups of depressed older patients based on their metabolic-inflammatory profile and examined the course of depression for these subgroups.MethodsThis clinical cohort study was conducted in a sample of 364 depressed older (⩾60 years) patients according to DSM-IV criteria. Severity of depressive symptoms was monitored every 6 months and a formal diagnostic interview repeated at 2-year follow-up. Latent class analyses based on baseline metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers were performed. Adjusted for confounders, we compared remission of depression at 2-year follow-up between the metabolic-inflammatory subgroups with logistic regression and the course of depression severity over 2-years by linear mixed models.ResultsWe identified a ‘healthy’ subgroup (n = 181, 49.7%) and five subgroups characterized by different profiles of metabolic-inflammatory dysregulation. Compared to the healthy subgroup, patients in the subgroup with mild ‘metabolic and inflammatory dysregulation’ (n = 137, 37.6%) had higher depressive symptom scores, a lower rate of improvement in the first year, and were less likely to be remitted after 2-years [OR 0.49 (95% CI 0.26–0.91)]. The four smaller subgroups characterized by a more specific immune-inflammatory dysregulation profile did not differ from the two main subgroups regarding the course of depression.ConclusionsNearly half of the patients with late-life depressions suffer from metabolic-inflammatory dysregulation, which is also associated with more severe depression and a worse prognosis. Future studies should examine whether these depressed older patients benefit from a metabolic-inflammatory targeted treatment.

BackgroundDepression is associated with the metabolic syndrome (MS). We examined whether metabolic dysregulation predicted the 2-year course of clinical depression.MethodA total of 285 older persons (⩾60 years) suffering from depressive disorder according to DSM-IV-TR criteria was followed up for 2 years. Severity of depression was assessed with the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (IDS) at 6-month intervals. Metabolic syndrome was defined according the National Cholesterol Education Programme (NCEP-ATP III). We applied logistic regression and linear mixed models adjusted for age, sex, years of education, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, somatic co-morbidity, cognitive functioning and drug use (antidepressants, anti-inflammatory drugs) and severity of depression at baseline.ResultsMS predicted non-remission at 2 years (odds ratioper component = 1.26, 95% confidence interval 1.00–1.58), p = 0.047), which was driven by the waist circumference and HDL cholesterol. MS was not associated with IDS sum score. Subsequent analyses on its subscales, however, identified an association with the somatic symptom subscale score over time (interaction time × somatic subscale, p = 0.005), driven by higher waist circumference and elevated fasting glucose level.ConclusionsMetabolic dysregulation predicts a poor course of late-life depression. This finding supports the concept of ‘metabolic depression’, recently proposed on population-based findings of a protracted course of depressive symptoms in the presence of metabolic dysregulation. Our findings seem to be driven by abdominal obesity (as indicated by the waist circumference) and HDL cholesterol dysregulation.