ArticleBiological psychiatry2017
Leptin Dysregulation Is Specifically Associated With Major Depression With Atypical Features: Evidence for a Mechanism Connecting Obesity and Depression.
Article in Biological psychiatry, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 97 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
97 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 206 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association between metabolically healthy obesity and risk of depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Pooled it
- Peripheral Inflammatory Markers in Subtypes and Core Features of Depression: A Systematized Review.Psychopathology · 2023Pooled it
- Improvement in mood symptoms after post-bariatric surgery among people with obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Diabetes/metabolism research and reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Data-driven biological subtypes of depression: systematic review of biological approaches to depression subtyping.Molecular psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- The use of latent class analysis for identifying subtypes of depression: A systematic review.Psychiatry research · 2018Pooled it
- The genetic overlap between mood disorders and cardiometabolic diseases: a systematic review of genome wide and candidate gene studies.Translational psychiatry · 2017Pooled it
- Effect of non-invasive spinal cord stimulation in unmedicated adults with major depressive disorder: a pilot randomized controlled trial and induced current flow pattern.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Trial
- The effects of ketamine on typical and atypical depressive symptoms.Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica · 2020Trial
- Body Mass Index as a Moderator of Treatment Response to Ketamine for Major Depressive Disorder.Journal of clinical psychopharmacologyTrial
- Blunted anticipation, but not consummation, of food rewards in depression.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Article
- Sex-specific Serum Biomarker Associations with Antidepressant Treatment Outcomes in Depressive Disorders.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- [Immunometabolic mechanisms in atypical depression].Der Nervenarzt · 2026Review
- A paraventricular hypothalamic control of social stress susceptibility by targeting brown adipose tissue β3 adrenoceptor.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Obesity and Depression.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Seasonal metabolic oscillation: adiposity cycling as a candidate amplifier of mood seasonality in seasonal affective and bipolar disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Appetite measures during ketamine administration in treatment-resistant mood disorders: a naturalistic study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Atypical depression: state of the art and future perspectives.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Investigating the visceral adiposity-major depressive disorder link: a cross-sectional NHANES 2011-2014 analysis and Mendelian randomization study.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2025Article
- Inflammatory status along the brain-liver axis in animals vulnerable to prenatal stress: sex-related implications for stress-induced comorbidities.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- The Regulation of Energy Intake in Infancy: A Narrative Review.Current obesity reports · 2025Review
37 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundObesity-related dysregulation of leptin signaling (e.g., hyperleptinemia due to central functional resistance) may affect mood. However, evidence for leptin dysregulation in major depressive disorder (MDD) is conflicting. Inconclusive findings may be attributable to heterogeneity of MDD, aggregating biologically different subtypes. We examined the relationship of leptin with MDD, its common subtypes (typical and atypical), and clinical features.
methodsThe sample consisted of participants (aged 18 to 65 years) from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety with current (n = 1062) or remitted (n = 711) MDD and healthy control subjects (n = 497). Diagnoses of MDD and subtypes were based on DSM-IV symptoms. Additional symptoms were measured with the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology. Blood levels of leptin and adiposity indexes (body mass index and waist circumference) were assessed.
resultsAs compared to control subjects, higher leptin was associated with the atypical MDD subtype both for remitted (n = 144, odds ratio = 1.53, 95% confidence interval = 1.16-2.03, p = .003) and current (n = 270, odds ratio = 1.90, 95% confidence interval = 1.51-2.93, p = 5.3e-8) cases. This association was stronger for increasing adiposity levels (leptin by body mass index interaction, p < .02), strengthening the hypothesis of the involvement of leptin resistance. No association with leptin was found for overall MDD or the typical subtype. Among currently depressed patients, higher leptin was associated with key symptoms identifying the atypical subtype, such as hyperphagia, increased weight, and leaden paralysis.
conclusionsLeptin dysregulation (resistance) may represent an underlying mechanism connecting obesity and MDD with atypical features. Development of treatment effectively targeting leptin resistance may benefit patients with atypical depression characterized by obesity-related metabolic alterations.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.