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Absence of Relation Between Depressive Symptoms and Carotid Intimal Medial Thickness in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging

From the Department of Psychology (S.C.R., S.R.W.), University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Maryland; National Institute on Aging, Intramural Research Program (S.C.R., A.B.Z., E.J.M., S.S.N.), Baltimore, Maryland; National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; Division of Gerontology (S.R.W.), Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine and Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center; Baltimore VA Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to S. Carrington Rice, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250. E-mail: rice3{at}umbc.edu

Objective: To examine the relation between longitudinal trajectories of depressive symptoms as well as history of significant symptoms and subsequent carotid intimal medial thickness (IMT) among participants enrolled in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging and to assess longitudinal covariation of depressive symptoms and carotid IMT over two time points. Prior literature has identified inconsistent cross-sectional associations between depressive symptoms and carotid IMT in healthy persons, and existing longitudinal work has relied on depression assessment at a single time point.

Methods: A total of 556 participants (303 women and 253 men), aged 20 to 93 years (mean ± standard deviation = 55.8 ± 15.9 years), completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale from one to eight times over 1 to 15 years. Participants later underwent high-resolution B-mode ultrasonography to assess IMT of the far wall of the common carotid artery. A subset of these participants (n = 68) underwent reassessment of IMT an average of 3.9 years later. Linear and mixed-effects regression models were adjusted for sex, race, education, systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, body mass index, diabetes, smoking, and antihypertensive, lipid-lowering, and antidepressant medications.

Results: There was no relation between trajectory of depressive symptoms or history of significant depressive symptoms and future carotid IMT. There was also no evidence for longitudinal covariation of depressive symptoms and IMT over time. Additional analyses similarly revealed a lack of significant associations.

Conclusion: There is no association between depressive symptoms and carotid IMT in the present sample of healthy community-dwelling volunteers.

Key Words: atherosclerosis • carotid intimal medial thickness • depression

Abbreviations: BLSA = Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging; BMI = body mass index; CCA = common carotid artery; CES-D = Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression; DBP = diastolic blood pressure; HDL = high-density lipoprotein; IMT = intimal medial thickness; LDL = low-density lipoprotein; OGTT = oral glucose tolerance test; SBP = systolic blood pressure.