Reduced serum adiponectin levels in alexithymia

Impact of Alexithymia on the Lipid Profile in Major Depressed Individuals

Background

The cooccurrence of major depression and dyslipidaemia is associated with negative cardiovascular outcome, which seems to justify a better identification of the factors favouring the development of dyslipidaemia in major depressed individuals. In the literature, there are arguments in favour of a special relationship between dyslipidaemia and alexithymia. However, despite a high prevalence of alexithymia in major depressed individuals, no study has investigated the impact of this personality trait on the lipid profile in this particular subpopulation. Given these elements, the aim of this study was therefore to investigate the risk of dyslipidaemia associated with alexithymia in major depressed individuals to allow better cardiovascular prevention in this subpopulation. Subjects and Methods. Demographic and polysomnographic data from 242 major depressed individuals recruited from the clinical database of the sleep laboratory were analysed. Only individuals with a diagnosis of dyslipidaemia according to the diagnostic criteria of the International Diabetes Federation at admission were included in the “dyslipidaemia” group. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the risk of dyslipidaemia associated with alexithymia in major depressed individuals.

Results

The prevalence of dyslipidaemia was 43.8% in our sample of major depressed individuals. After adjusting for the main confounding factors, multivariate logistic regression analyses demonstrated that alexithymia was a risk factor for dyslipidaemia in major depressed individuals.

Conclusions

In this study, we found that alexithymia is a risk factor for dyslipidaemia in major depressed individuals, which seems to justify better identification and adequate management of this personality trait in order to allow a better lipid profile in this subpopulation at high cardiovascular risk.

Alexithymic Traits and Hair Cortisol Concentrations in Pregnant Women

INTRODUCTION

Alexithymia, a personality construct characterized by difficulties in identifying and expressing emotions, and an externally oriented thinking style, has been associated with a number of stress-related disorders, and physiological markers of stress. We examined the relationships of alexithymia and hair cortisol concentrations (HCC), a measure of long-term cortisol levels, in pregnant women.

METHODS

Participants were 130 women from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort study. Alexithymia was measured with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Analysis of covariance and regression analyses were used to assess the associations between alexithymia and HCC. Educational level, current depressive symptoms, and body mass index (BMI) were applied as covariates.

RESULTS

In the adjusted analyses, individuals with moderate to high alexithymic traits had significantly higher HCC (F = 5.11, partial η² = 0.040 , p = 0.026) compared to non-alexithymics. Regression analyses in the whole sample revealed that, of the individual dimensions of alexithymia, Difficulty Identifying Feelings (DIF) was associated with HCC (β = 0.187, t = 2.064, p = 0.041).

CONCLUSIONS

Alexithymia, and especially its dimension DIF, were associated with higher HCC and, therefore, may be linked to increased chronic physiological stress. Implications for pregnancy outcomes and infant development are discussed.

Importance of adiponectin activity in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease

A recent study suggested that insulin resistance may play a central role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this regard, it is of note that upregulation of plasma adiponectin (APN), a benign adipokine that sensitizes the insulin receptor signaling pathway and suppresses inflammation, has recently been associated with the severities of amyloid deposits and cognitive deficits in the elderly, suggesting that APN may enhance the risk of AD. These results are unanticipated because AD has been linked to type II diabetes and other metabolic disorders in which hypoadiponectinemia has been firmly established, and because APN ameliorated neuropathological features in a mouse model of neurodegeneration. Therefore, the objective of this study is to discuss the possible mechanisms underlying the biological actions of APN in the context of AD. Given that insulin receptor signaling is required for normal function of the nervous system, we predict that APN may be upregulated to compensate for compromised activity of the insulin receptor signaling pathway. However, increased APN might be sequestered by tau in the brain, leading to neurotoxic protein aggregation in AD. Alternatively, misfolding of APN may result in downregulation of the insulin/APN signal transduction network, leading to decreased neuroprotective and neurotrophic activities. Thus, it is possible that both ‘gain of function’ and ‘loss of function’ of APN may underlie synaptic dysfunction and neuronal cell death in AD. Such a unique biological mechanism underlying APN function in AD may require a novel therapeutic strategy that is distinct from previous treatment for metabolic disorders.

Is alexithymia associated with metabolic syndrome? A study in a healthy adult population

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a constellation of risk factors for, in particular, cardiovascular diseases and increased mortality, and it constitutes a major clinical challenge affecting millions of lives. Alexithymia is a condition that has been linked with several mental diseases and symptoms, as well as somatic illnesses, including essential hypertension and diabetes mellitus. However, there is limited research on the association of alexithymia and MetS. The aim of the present study was to comprehensively explore this association in a large (n=1648) non-clinical sample of adults. Logistic regression analyses were applied to the five separate MetS components as well as the MetS diagnosis, and the analyses included a number of sociodemographic variables and depressive symptoms as covariates. The results confirmed the previous finding of alexithymic features being independently and significantly associated with hypertension. As a new finding, this association appears to be related to two particular dimensions of alexithymia, namely difficulty describing feelings and externally oriented thinking. Interestingly, alexithymic features were also separately significantly associated with waist circumference and triglycerides as well as the MetS diagnosis. Depressive symptoms did not have any significant effect on the relations of alexithymia and MetS.

Plasma adiponectin is inversely associated with antenatal anxiety: Results from a Brazilian cohort

Antenatal anxiety may increase the risk of undesirable birth outcomes. Studies have demonstrated an association between adiponectin and anxiety, but this issue has not been investigated during pregnancy. This study aimed to evaluate the association between plasma adiponectin, measured throughout gestation, and the occurrence of anxiety at late pregnancy (30-36th weeks). A prospective cohort was investigated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Healthy pregnant women, aged 20-40 years, were evaluated between gestational weeks 5-13, 22-26 and 30-36. State anxiety was measured using a validated version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and women were categorized as high (score≥50, n=30) or low anxiety (score<50, n=129). Plasma samples for all trimesters were analyzed using commercial ELISA kits to determine adiponectin concentrations (U/mL). Statistical analysis involved student's t-tests, chi-square, Pearson correlation, multiple logistic regression and linear mixed effects (LME) regression to model longitudinal trends of adiponectin, stratified for anxiety categories. Women with higher anxiety scores had lower mean concentrations of 3rd trimester adiponectin compared with those with lower scores (7.9; 95% CI: 7.0-8.9 vs. 9.9; 95% CI: 9.1-10.7). Women with 3rd trimester adiponectin values within the third tertile (10.47-26.57U/mL) were less likely to have high antenatal anxiety (adjusted OR=0.30; 95% CI: 0.09-0.98) compared with those within the first tertile (2.25-7.08U/mL). Unlike women with low levels of anxiety, those with high levels had a significant decrease of plasma adiponectin throughout pregnancy (β=-0.07; 95% CI: -0.13-[-0.01] vs. β=-0.01; 95% CI: -0.05 to 0.03). Multiple LME model indicated higher adiponectin throughout pregnancy for women with low anxiety (β=-1.57; 95% CI: -2.78-[-0.37]). In conclusion, plasma adiponectin throughout pregnancy was inversely associated with antenatal anxiety.