![Sample our Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing & Allied Health journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5944/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Medicine-Dentistry-Nursing-Allied-Health.jpg"})
Abstract
Depressive symptoms are associated with an increased risk for developing cardiovascular diseases, driven by its link to the metabolic syndrome (MetS). This phenomenon, however, still needs to be investigated in the African population. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and MetS risk markers in a determined sample. The researchers stratified Black African men and women into with depressive symptoms (D) or without depressive symptoms (ND) group, based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria score. Fasting MetS, chronic hyperglycemia (HbA1c), ambulatory blood pressure (BP) and Cornell product-LVH (CP-LVH) in ECG measures were obtained. Depressive symptoms were reported in 45.3% of the sample. Independent of depression status, African men and women revealed a pre-diabetic state (glycated hemoglobin >5.7%). CP-LVH was associated with decreased low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in D African women. In D African men, systolic BP (P = .001) and HbA1c (P = .08) explained 64% and 31% of the variation in LVH, respectively. In conclusion, depressive symptoms in Black African women were associated with a measure of target end organ damage, CP-LVH, and this association was driven by a metabolic factor. In Black African men, independent of depressive symptoms, LVH, was driven by cardiometabolic factors, namely SBP and HbA1c.
Declaration of interest: The SABPA study was carried out by a multidisciplinary team from the HART, North-West University. This work was supported by the HART (North-West University) and National Research Foundation South Africa (UID 65607), Metabolic Syndrome Institute, France. The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.