Lower serum uric acid levels are associated with depressive symptoms in a Japanese general population: A population-based cross-sectional study

Uric acid (UA) is a final product of purine metabolism and has neuroprotective effects. It has not been established whether serum UA levels are associated with depressive disorder. Thus, we investigated whether serum UA levels are associated with depressive symptoms in a Japanese general population. We used the Iwaki Health Promotion Project 2022 data (737 subjects) in this cross-sectional study. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to assess the prevalence of depressive symptoms. Subjects with CES-D scores ≥16 were assigned to the Depression group. We compared characteristics and laboratory data (including serum UA) between the Depression and Non-depression groups and performed a multivariable logistic regression analysis to investigate whether their serum UA levels were associated with depressive symptoms, after adjusting for possible confounding factors. We analyzed the cases of 705 subjects: the Depression group (n = 142) and the Non-depression group (n = 563). The Depression group's serum UA levels were significantly lower than those of the Non-depression group. The multivariable logistic regression analysis demonstrated that lower serum UA levels were significantly associated with the depressive symptoms. In conclusion, lower serum UA levels in this Japanese general population were significantly associated with the depressive symptoms.