Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Sep 19, 2024; 14(9): 1335-1345
Published online Sep 19, 2024. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v14.i9.1335
Sex differences in the association between the muscle quality index and the incidence of depression: A cross-sectional study
Gui-Ping Huang, Li-Ping Mai, Zhi-Jie Zheng, Xi-Pei Wang, Guo-Dong He
Gui-Ping Huang, Li-Ping Mai, Zhi-Jie Zheng, Xi-Pei Wang, Guo-Dong He, Institute of Medical Research, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China
Co-first authors: Gui-Ping Huang and Li-Ping Mai.
Co-corresponding authors: Xi-Pei Wang and Guo-Dong He.
Author contributions: Huang GP and Mai LP contributed equally to this work; Huang GP contributed to the writing - review & editing; Mai LP participated in the conceptualization and data curation of this manuscript; Huang GP, Mai LP, and Wang XP contributed to the formal analysis; Huang GP, Zheng ZJ, and He GD wrote the original draft; Zheng ZJ, Wang XP, and He GD participated in the methodology and software; Zheng ZJ and He GD were responsible for the project administration and resources; He GD contributed to the supervision of this manuscript. Wang XP and He GD were equal to this paper. All authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Supported by Guangdong Medical Science and Technology Research Fund, No. A2023005.
Institutional review board statement: All National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey procedures and protocols have been reviewed and approved by the National Center for Health Statistics Research Ethics Review Board.
Informed consent statement: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey is approved by the National Center for Health Statistics Research Ethics Review Board, and all participants provide informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The datasets (supplementary material) generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey repository, https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/index.htm.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Guo-Dong He, PhD, Technologist-in-charge, Institute of Medical Research, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, No. 106 Zhongshan 2nd Road, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China. heguodong@gdph.org.cn
Received: July 7, 2024
Revised: July 16, 2024
Accepted: August 8, 2024
Published online: September 19, 2024
Processing time: 66 Days and 2.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Depression presents significant challenges to mental health care. Although physical activity is highly beneficial to mental and physical health, relatively few studies have conducted on the relationship between them.

AIM

To investigate the association between muscle quality index (MQI) and incidence of depression.

METHODS

The data used in this cross-sectional study were obtained from the 2011-2014 National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey, which included information on MQI, depression, and confounding factors. Multivariable logistic regression models were employed, while taking into account the complex multi-stage sampling design. A restricted cubic spline model was utilized to investigate the non-linear relationship between the MQI and depression. Additionally, subgroup analyses were performed to identify influential factors.

RESULTS

The prevalence of depression in this population was 8.44%. With the adjusted model, the MQI was associated with depression in females (odds ratio = 0.68, 95% confidence interval: 0.49-0.95) but not in males (odds ratio = 1.08, 95% confidence interval: 0.77-1.52). Restricted cubic spline adjustment of all covariates showed a significant negative non-linear relationship between depression and the MQI in females. The observed trend indicated an 80% decrease in the risk of depression for each unit increase in MQI, until a value of 2.2. Subsequently, when the MQI exceeded 2.2, the prevalence of depression increased by 20% for every unit increase in the MQI. Subgroup analyses further confirmed that the MQI was negatively associated with depression.

CONCLUSION

The MQI was inversely correlated with depression in females but not males, suggesting that females with a higher MQI might decrease the risk of depression.

Keywords: Sex differences; Muscle quality index; Depression; National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; Population-based study

Core Tip: Early monitoring of psychosocial disorders is crucial for mental health care. Muscle quality index (MQI) is a promising indicator of physical health, fitness, and mental well-being. While there is no conclusive evidence to establish a direct link between MQI and depression. In this study, a large-scale and representative sample of the American population revealed that sex differences existed in the association between the MQI and depression. Females with a higher MQI might exhibit a decreased likelihood of developing symptoms of depression and it might potentially serve as a safeguard against the onset of depression in females.