ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1581622
This article is part of the Research TopicLipid-Immune Interplay in Chronic Inflammatory-Based DisordersView all 8 articles
The Relationship Between Dyslipidemia and Chronic Liver Disease, with the Mediating Role of Depressive Symptoms
Provisionally accepted
- Yiyang Central Hospital, Yiyang, China
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Dyslipidemia and chronic liver disease (CLD) remain major global health challenges with high morbidity and mortality rates. Although extensively studied, the association between dyslipidemia and CLD remains incompletely elucidated. Depressive symptoms, an increasingly prevalent comorbidity, have been widely implicated in both conditions. This study aimed to investigate the bidirectional effects between dyslipidemia and CLD and the mediating role of depressive symptoms in their association.We recruited 6,926 participants aged ≥45 years from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). It used Logistic regression and mediation analysis to examine the bidirectional link between dyslipidemia and CLD, and the mediating role of depressive symptoms.The median age was 58.7 years. Among participants, 222 were diagnosed with CLD and 1,883 with dyslipidemia. After adjusting for confounders, individuals with dyslipidemia exhibited an 81% higher risk of CLD (OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.32-2.46). Conversely, those with CLD had an 81% elevated risk of dyslipidemia (OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.33-2.46). Depressive symptoms mediated a statistically significant yet modest proportion of the bidirectional association (mediation proportions: 2.91% for the path from dyslipidemia to CLD; 2.54 % for the path from CLD to dyslipidemia).A bidirectional relationship exists between dyslipidemia and CLD, partially mediated by depressive symptoms. While lipid regulation and CLD management are crucial, causal inferences are limited by the cross-sectional design. Future longitudinal or experimental studies are warranted to establish causality.
Keywords: Dyslipidemia, chronic liver disease, depressive symptoms, Mediation analysis, Chinese population
Received: 22 Feb 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zhou, Li and Wang. 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: Deqiang Wang, Yiyang Central Hospital, Yiyang, China
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