A cross-sectional association between depression and serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) has been noted in the literature. This study aims to employ meta-analytic techniques to clarify the relationship between depression and serum LDL.
Published articles through April 2015 were identified through systematic query of PubMed with follow-up manual searches. Data from 36 studies reporting mean difference and 7 studies reporting odds ratios were analyzed separately.
Meta-analysis of studies modeling serum LDL as a continuous measure demonstrates overall significantly lower serum LDL in depression (Mean difference=-4.29, 95% CI=-8.19, -0.40, p=0.03). Meta-analysis of studies modeling serum LDL as a categorical measure demonstrates a marginally significant lower odds of depression in the presence of low serum LDL relative to high serum LDL (OR=0.90, 95% CI=0.80, 1.01, p=0.08).
High heterogeneity was noted across sampled studies, which may be a function of variations in study design, participants sampled, or other factors. The potential for publication bias was also assessed.
This meta-analysis demonstrates a cross-sectional link between depression and low serum LDL.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 18. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 August 2026.
All research outputs
#2,622,438
of 34,147,617 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Affective Disorders
#1,760
of 12,866 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#32,537
of 337,008 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Affective Disorders
#23
of 127 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,147,617 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 92nd percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 12,866 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.8. This one has done well, scoring higher than 86% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 337,008 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 90% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 127 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 81% of its contemporaries.
