Association between Depression and C-Reactive Protein

Table 1

Characteristics of study participants, overall and by gender, SEASONS study, Worcester, MA, 1994–1998.

Variables	Overall   (𝑛=508)	Men  (𝑛=259)	Women  (𝑛=249)	𝑃 value for gender comparison
	N (%)/Mean	N (%)/Mean	N (%)/Mean
Age (years)	48.5	49.1	47.9	.28
Race
White	436 (87.6%)	228 (87.2%)	208 (85.6%)	.19
Marital Status
Married or Living with Partner	392 (77.3%)	214 (83.0%)	178 (71.5%)	.19
Education				<.001
Less than high school	125 (24.7%)	42 (16.3%)	83 (33.5%)
Some college or Associates degree	181 (35.8%)	106 (41.1%)	75 (30.2%)
College/graduate or more	200 (39.5%)	110 (42.6%)	90 (36.3%)
Employment				.001
Full-time	336 (66.1%)	191 (73.8%)	145 (58.2%)
Part-time	76 (15.0%)	27 (10.4%)	49 (19.7%)
Unemployed/retired	96 (18.9%)	41 (15.8%)	55 (22.1%)
Current smoking
Yes	71 (15.0%)	35 (15.0%)	36 (15.1)	.97
Body Mass Index (BMI) classification				<.001
Normal (18.5–24.9 kg/m^2)	188 (37.0%)	72 (27.8%)	116 (46.6%)
Overweight (25–29.9 kg/m^2)	206 (40.6%)	121 (46.7%)	85 (34.1%)
Obese (≥30 kg/m^2)	114 (22.4%)	66 (25.5%)	48 (19.3%)
Mean BMI (kg/m^2)	27.2	27.8	26.6	.01
Blood Measurements
High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein mg/L (from natural log distribution)	1.05	1.09	1.01	.37
Total cholesterol (mg/dl)*	219.6	221.5	217.6	.28
LDL (mg/dl)*	143.6	146.2	140.8	.08
HDL (mg/dl)*	48.1	43.3	53.0	<.0001
Triglycerides (mg/dl)** (from natural log distribution)	118.8	136.4	102.8	<.0001
Dietary factors
Total caloric intake (kcal per day)	1957	2263	1640	<.0001
% of calories from total fat	31.4	32.1	30.7	<.01
% of calories from saturated fat	11.2	11.5	10.9	.02
Total fiber intake (gram per day)	16.2	18.0	14.3	<.0001
Physical activity
Total MET-h/d	30.17	31.58	28.71	<.0001
Leisure MET-h/d	1.87	2.07	1.67	.03
Occupational MET-h/d	4.32	5.74	2.85	<.0001
Household MET-h/d	4.8	4.6	5.0	.13
Psychosocial factors
Beck Depression Inventory Score (from natural log distribution)	3.4	3.0	3.8	.11
Prevalence of depression (% with BDI scores ≥21)	10 (2.0%)	3 (1.2%)	7 (2.8%)	.18
Antidepressant Medication Use	11 (2.2%)	4 (1.5%)	7 (2.8%)	.3
Physiologic measures and other
Systolic blood pressure—mm Hg	119	124	113	<.0001
Diastolic blood pressure—mm Hg	75	77	73	<.0001
Heart rate—beats/min	69.7	67.1	72.3	<.0001
Prevalence of infection inflammation %	56 (30.0%)	19 (20.2%)	37 (39.8%)	.003

*To transform total cholesterol, LDL, and HDL units from mg/dL to mmol/L multiply value by 0.0259.
**To transform triglyceride units from mg/dL to mmol/L multiply value by 0.0113.
Due to missing values the total number of subjects differs.