BALTIMORE HEALTH AND MENTAL HEALTH STUDY

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Osteoporosis is an important public health problem that will grow in significance as the nation's population ages. Osteoporosis is associated with increased risk of falls, fractures, disability, immobility and death. Recent studies have reported that history of depression is associated with reduced bone mineral density (BMD) even after adjustment for other covariates such as age and body mass index (BMI). To date, most of the studies that have examined this longitudinal relationship have been limited by retrospective assessments of depression. The Baltimore site of the NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) Study provides a detailed characterization of over two decades of prospectively collected psychiatric and medical history on a population based probability sample, and is presented with a rare opportunity to examine the relationship between depression and BMD. Interviews have been conducted in 1981, 1982, 1993-6 and 2004/5. This is a supplemental nested case-control study within the Baltimore ECA Study, which is being coordinated with the recent K award of Dr. Hochang Lee, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Lee's award is to study the relationship between early and mid-life depression syndromes (Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Mild Depression, and Dysthymia) and late life cognitive decline using a selected sub-sample of subjects: 125 ECA subjects aged 60 and older with a history of depressive syndrome and 125 age, sex, and education-matched control ECA subjects. These 250 respondents are invited for extensive neuropsychological testing at the Johns Hopkins medical complex. These respondents are also asked to agree to DEXA scans during their visit to Johns Hopkins. This utilizes the dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) facilities at the GCRC for assessment of BMD. Results will provide new credible data on depression as a risk factor for osteoporosis, and suggest plausible biological pathways that might explain the relationship.