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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 90/4/1056    most recent ajcn.2009.27493v1 Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Bjelland, I. Articles by Ueland, P. M PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bjelland, I. Articles by Ueland, P. M Agricola Articles by Bjelland, I. Articles by Ueland, P. M

Choline in anxiety and depression: the Hordaland Health Study^1,2,3

¹ From the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway (IB); the Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway (IB, GST, SEV, and SK); Section for Pharmacology, Institute of Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway (PMU); and the Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway (PMU).

² Supported by the Foundation to Promote Research into Functional Vitamin B-12 Deficiency.

³ Address correspondence to I Bjelland, Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Kalfarveien 31, N-5018 Bergen, Norway. E-mail: ingvar.bjelland{at}helse-bergen.no.

Background: Despite its importance in the central nervous system as a precursor for acetylcholine and membrane phosphatidylcholine, the role of choline in mental illness has been little studied.

Objective: We examined the cross-sectional association between plasma choline concentrations and scores of anxiety and depression symptoms in a general population sample.

Design: We studied a subsample (n = 5918) of the Hordaland Health Study, including both sexes and 2 age groups of 46–49 and 70–74 y who had valid information on plasma choline concentrations and symptoms of anxiety and depression measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale—the latter 2 as continuous measures and dichotomized at a score 8 for both subscales.

Results: The lowest choline quintile was significantly associated with high anxiety levels (odds ratio: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.69) in the fully adjusted (age group, sex, time since last meal, educational level, and smoking habits) logistic regression model. Also, the trend test in the anxiety model was significant (P = 0.007). In the equivalent fully adjusted linear regression model, a significant inverse association was found between choline quintiles and anxiety levels (standardized regression coefficient = –0.027, P = 0.045). We found no significant associations in the corresponding analyses of the relation between plasma choline and depression symptoms.

Conclusion: In this large population–based study, choline concentrations were negatively associated with anxiety symptoms but not with depression symptoms.