Depressive symptoms among Mexican adolescent girls in relation to iron status, anaemia, body weight and pubertal status: results from a latent class analysis

Abstract

Objective: The study examined the association between depressive symptoms and iron status, anaemia, body weight, and pubertal status among Mexican adolescent girls. Design: In this cross-sectional study, depressive symptoms were assessed by the 6-item Kutcher Adolescent Depressive Scale (6-KADS), and latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify and characterize groups of girls based on depressive symptoms. Iron status and inflammation were assessed using ferritin and soluble transferrin receptor, C-reactive protein and alpha-1-acid glycoprotein, respectively. Multiple logistic and linear regression were applied to model class membership as a function of iron status, anaemia, body weight, and pubertal status. Participants: We collected data from 408 girls aged 12-20 years. Setting: public schools in northern Mexico. Results: LCA yielded three classes of depressive symptoms; 44.4% of the adolescents were “unlikely to be depressed”, 41.5% were “likely to be depressed”, and 14.1% were “highly likely to be depressed”. Our analyses demonstrated that iron deficient girls had greater odds of being “likely depressed” (odds ratio, OR=2.01, 95% CI 1.01-3.00) or “highly likely depressed (OR=2.80, 95% CI 1.76-3.84). Linear regression analyses revealed that lower haemoglobin concentrations and higher body weight increased the probability of being “likely depressed”. There was no evidence that depressive symptoms were associated to age at menarche and years since menstruation. Conclusion: This study shows that iron deficient adolescent girls are more likely to suffer from depressive symptoms, and that lower concentrations of haemoglobin and higher body weight increased the probability of experiencing depressive symptoms.

Iron status in Swiss adolescents with paediatric major depressive disorder and healthy controls: a matched case–control study

“…Previous studies have found low iron status to be associated with depression [ 26 – 28 , 54 ], but overall, the evidence is limited and ambiguous [ 55 , 56 ]. For instance, lower SF concentrations have been associated with depression in adult Iranian students [ 26 ], in English elderly persons (> 65 years of age) [ 27 ], and in middle-aged male Japanese workers [ 28 ].…”

“…For adolescents specifically, there are limited and inconsistent data on the associations between iron status parameters and depressive disorders. In Mexican adolescents, female participants ( n = 403) aged 12–20 years with ID had greater odds for being “likely depressed” (OR = 2.01) or “highly likely depressed” (OR = 2.80) [ 54 ]. In New Zealand, higher body iron stores in males were associated with greater depressive symptoms while this could not be shown in females [ 57 ].…”

Phenotyping children and adolescents with obesity using behavioral, psychological, and familial data

“…These studies have found that phenotypes of youth characterized by unhealthy eating behaviors, low activity levels, high screen time, and substance use have a higher prevalence of youth with overweight or obesity [39, 41]. Additional studies have included indicators of appetitive traits such as food and satiety responsiveness [37, 42], loss of control eating [18, 43], and psychological functioning (e.g., depression, anxiety) [44, 45] to characterize phenotypes of children and adolescents with higher prevalence of overweight and obesity.…”

“…and psychological functioning (e.g., depression, anxiety) [44,45] to characterize phenotypes of children and adolescents with higher prevalence of overweight and obesity.…”