A new study presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) Congress in Amsterdam and based on data from the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity (NEO) Study, reveals that not all depression is alike when it comes to health risks. The findings show that specific types of depression are associated with different long-term risks of developing cardiometabolic diseases, a significant advancement in our understanding of the depression-metabolism connection.
It has long been known that depression can increase the risk of metabolic disorders, but researchers have now found that the type of depressive symptoms matters. The research team followed 5,794 adults over a period of seven years, all of whom were free from cardiovascular disease and diabetes at the beginning of the study. Each participant completed detailed questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms, allowing scientists to categorize them into two primary profiles: those with “melancholic” symptoms and those with “atypical/energy-related” symptoms.
Melancholic depression is characterized by classic symptoms such as early morning awakening and loss of appetite. Atypical or energy-related depression, on the other hand, includes fatigue, excessive sleep, and increased appetite. These symptom profiles were not just academic distinctions, they predicted different disease outcomes over time.
According to the findings, individuals with atypical/energy-related depressive symptoms were approximately 2.7 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those without depression, but did not show an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Conversely, those with melancholic symptoms had a 1.5 times higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, such as stroke or heart attack, but no increased risk for type 2 diabetes.
Lead researcher Dr Yuri Milaneschi (Amsterdam UNC) said
We already knew that not all depressions are the same, but this means that we may need to consider how the type of depression someone has impacts different areas of their physical health. It very much pushes us towards the idea of precision psychiatry, the idea that we need to look for physical associations with mental health profiles, so that we can better treat mental illness. To treat sufferers individually”.
Reference: https://www.ecnp.eu/congress2025/
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