Depression, Anxiety May Affect Bone Metabolism in Young Adults

HealthDay News — Major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) use are associated with bone metabolism in older adolescents and young adults, according to a study published online in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

Chadi A. Calarge, MD, from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and colleagues prospectively followed medically healthy 15 to 20 year-olds who were unmedicated or within 1 month of starting an SSRI. The authors assessed the correlations between bone measures and MDD, GAD, and SSRI indices.

A total of 264 participants were followed for 1.51 ± 0.76 years. The researchers found that MDD severity was associated with increasing lumbar spine (LS) areal bone mineral density (aBMD), after adjustment for age, sex, vitamin D concentration, physical activity, lean mass or grip strength, and time in the study. 

In female participants, SSRI use correlated with increasing LS aBMD and bone formation; in males, SSRI use correlated with decreased LS aBMD. GAD was weakly, but independently, associated with increased bone mineralization, after accounting for depression.

“In older adolescents and emerging adults, MDD and GAD are associated with increasing bone mass, particularly in the lumbar spine and in females, while SSRIs are associated with increasing bone mass in females but decreasing bone mass in males,” the authors write.

Reference

Carlarge CA, Mills JA, Janz KF, et al. The effect of depression, generalized anxiety, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors on change in bone metabolism in adolescents and emerging adults [published online August 16, 2017]. J Bone Miner Res. doi:10.1002/jbmr.3238