ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Mood Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1544266
Relationship between uric acid and depression in American adults: findings from NHANES, 2005-2020
Provisionally accepted
Pengwei Lai1,2
xingyun xie1,2
Wen Zeng1,2Weiwen Cheng1,2Xinyuan Liu1,2He Long1,2Taierqi Peng1,2Antong Hu1,2Xiaohong Du1,2*- 1Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
- 2Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China
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Background: At present, the role of uric acid in mental disorders is receiving increasing attention, but its relationship with depression is controversial, and previous studies have corresponding limitations. The relationship between them has not been fully elucidated.The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between uric acid and depression in American adults using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).This cross-sectional study included participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2020. Use logistic regression and restricted cubic spline analysis to investigate the relationship between uric acid and depression.The interactions between variables were determined using subgroup analysis and described in a forest plot.Results: 37033 participants were included in this study, with depression patients accounting for 8.95%. The uric acid levels in the depression group and nondepression group were 317.69 μ mol/L and 323.34 μ mol/L, respectively, with the former having significantly lower uric acid levels than the latter. In the fully adjusted model, participants in the third tertile of uric acid showed a significant correlation (P=0.002, OR; 0.85 (0.76 ~0.94)) with a higher risk of depression compared to participants in the first tertile. There is an approximately linear negative correlation between uric acid and depression (P for nonlinear=0.360), and the OR value of uric acid is 1 when the uric acid value is 312.20 μ mol/L.Conclusions: Current research suggests that serum uric acid is associated with depression in American adults. More discoveries and causal relationships require further investigation.
Keywords: Uric Acid, Depression, NHANES, disease marker, Public Health
Received: 12 Dec 2024; Accepted: 03 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lai, xie, Zeng, Cheng, Liu, Long, Peng, Hu and Du. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaohong Du, Nanchang University, Nanchang, China
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