ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychopathology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1634920
This article is part of the Research TopicDiagnosis, Treatment or Prediction of Biomarkers in DepressionView all 3 articles
High-density lipoprotein is inversely associated with psychiatric symptoms across diagnoses in patients with general psychiatric disorders
Provisionally accepted
Hedda Soloey-Nilsen1,2*
Kristin Nygaard-Odeh1,2Magnhild Gangsoey Kristiansen1,2Erling Inge Kvig1,2
Ole-Lars Brekke1,2
Tom E. Mollnes1,2,3,4,5
Michael Berk6,7
Solveig Klæbo Reitan5,8- 1UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
- 2Nordlandssykehuset HF, Bod, Norway
- 3Oslo universitetssykehus, Oslo, Norway
- 4Universitetet i Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- 5Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Trondheim, Norway
- 6Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia
- 7Barwon Health, Geelong, Australia
- 8St Olav's Hospital HF, Trondheim, Norway
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Lipids are essential in cell structure and function in all parts of the body including the brain. Thus, lipids are of obvious relevance in psychiatric disorders. While the role of lipids in pathophysiological processes in cardiovascular disorders are widely known, the role of lipids in function and pathophysiology of mental processes are far less established. This study aimed to explore serum lipid levels and their association in a clinical cohort with general psychiatric symptoms. Methods: A transdiagnostic sample of 132 patients was recruited from a general open psychiatric ward to this cross-sectional naturalistic study. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed using the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). Serum levels of triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were measured, and multiple linear regression analysis were performed to investigate associations with symptom clusters from SCL-90-R. Results: After correcting for the most common confounding factors, HDL was negatively associated with intensity of phobic anxiety (p= 0.021), paranoid ideation (p= 0.041), anger hostility (p= 0.033) and interpersonal sensitivity (p= 0.003) symptom clusters. No relations were found between TG, LDL and symptom clusters. Conclusion: HDL was significant inversely associated with several general psychiatric symptoms. This result indicates a role for lipids in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders and suggests a mechanism for the increased cardiovascular risk across psychiatric diagnoses.
Keywords: HDL, LDL, Lipids, Mental Health, Neurosciences, Psychiatry, Symptoms, TG
Received: 25 May 2025; Accepted: 21 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Soloey-Nilsen, Nygaard-Odeh, Kristiansen, Kvig, Brekke, Mollnes, Berk and Reitan. 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: Hedda Soloey-Nilsen, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.