Hassan Ahmed A, Alharbi Hatim Y, Adam Ishag
Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan.
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Qassim, Saudi Arabia.
Front Psychiatry. 2025 Jul 22;16:1622027. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1622027. eCollection 2025.
The direction of the association between depression and serum ferritin among adolescents needs to be explored further. There is no data on the association between serum ferritin and depression in Sudan. Therefore, the current study aimed to compare serum ferritin and iron deficiency between adolescents with depression and healthy controls in northern Sudan.
An unmatched case-control study was conducted among adolescent school children in River Nile State, Sudan. The cases were adolescents with depression (n = 61), and an equal number of healthy adolescents were controls. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was used to assess depression. Multivariate regression analysis was performed.
The median serum ferritin level (6.3 [IQR 2.9-13.8] μg/l vs. 25.4 [IQR 19.5-37.1] μg/l, p <0.001) was significantly lower in adolescents with depression than in healthy controls. A significant negative correlation was found between the depression scale and serum ferritin levels (r = -0.596, p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, while increasing age (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-1.98), being female (AOR = 11.19, 95% CI 4.17-29.99), and iron deficiency (AOR = 76.87, 95% CI 9.08-650.0) were positively associated with depression, serum ferritin was negatively associated with depression (AOR = 0.96, 95% CI 0.94-0.99).
This study revealed a notable negative association between serum ferritin levels and depression. Adolescents with depression should be assessed for serum ferritin and iron deficiency.
青少年抑郁症与血清铁蛋白之间关联的方向有待进一步探究。苏丹尚无血清铁蛋白与抑郁症之间关联的数据。因此，本研究旨在比较苏丹北部抑郁症青少年与健康对照者的血清铁蛋白及缺铁情况。
在苏丹尼罗河州的青少年学童中开展了一项非匹配病例对照研究。病例为抑郁症青少年（n = 61），数量相等的健康青少年作为对照。采用患者健康问卷（PHQ - 9）评估抑郁症。进行了多变量回归分析。
抑郁症青少年的血清铁蛋白水平中位数（6.3 [四分位间距2.9 - 13.8] μg/l 对比 25.4 [四分位间距19.5 - 37.1] μg/l，p <0.001）显著低于健康对照者。抑郁症量表与血清铁蛋白水平之间存在显著负相关（r = -0.596，p < 0.001）。在多变量分析中，年龄增加（调整优势比[AOR] = 1.44，95%置信区间[CI] 1.05 - 1.98）、女性（AOR = 11.19，95% CI 4.17 - 29.99）以及缺铁（AOR = 76.87，95% CI 9.08 - 650.0）与抑郁症呈正相关，而血清铁蛋白与抑郁症呈负相关（AOR = 0.96，95% CI 0.94 - 0.99）。
本研究揭示了血清铁蛋白水平与抑郁症之间存在显著负相关。应对抑郁症青少年进行血清铁蛋白及缺铁情况的评估。
