Lipid levels and emotional distress among healthy male college students

Abstract

Low lipid levels have been found in some studies to be associated with non-illness deaths (i.e. suicides, homicides and accidents). Likewise, low lipids have been associated with measures of emotional distress (e.g. anxiety, depression, hostility) in medical, psychiatric and forensic populations whose age, health status and/or personal habits make interpretation of the association problematic. The present study examined the relationship of lipid levels to emotional distress in young, healthy, male college students. To investigate possible confounding/mediating relationships, a number of clinical risk factors and demographic variables were also studied (age, drug use, alcohol use, nicotine use, exercise, obesity and resting hemodynamic values). Bivariate correlations showed that measures of emotional distress (SCL-90-R subscales, Toronto Alexithymia Scale) and clinical/demographic factors (alcohol use, age, blood pressure, weight and heart rate) were associated with lipid levels. In a hierarchical set multiple regression, only alcohol use, age, resting systolic blood pressure and the positive symptom total from the SCL-90-R were unique correlates of total cholesterol. These results add additional support to the growing evidence of an association between lipid levels and emotional functioning. Importantly, this relationship appears to exist apart from other risk factors. While various studies have focused on specific dimensions of emotional distress (i.e. anxiety, depression, hostility), the results of the present study suggest that more global measures of emotional distress might better account for the association with lipid levels. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.