Depression and bone-thinning

A recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine has shown a link between depression in pre-menopausal women and osteoporosis, notably at the hip (17% vs 2%) which is one of the main sites for fracture.

A possible culprit is the chemical messenger IL-6 which is part of the immune system and when raised can increase rates of bone thinning. The depressed women in this study had higher levels of IL-6 than women who were not depressed. Now this could of course be a coincidental finding or something that is not directly involved. Observational studies like this can demonstrate association; but causality (what causes what) is much more difficult to work out. It may be, for example, that the depressed women had higher levels of some other substance which was caused both the thinning and the raised level of IL-6; or that some other factor that causes bone thinning also causes depression and raised levels of IL-6; etc. Complicated, heh?

This study is useful in that it shows depression to be a 'red-flag' for osteoporosis: depressed women are more at risk of osteoporosis and should be targetted for screening and prevention. It also adds to the weight of evidence supporting a holistic approach to health, and the need to consider together the physical, emotional, social and spiritual aspects of our nature and the links between physical, emotional and spiritual disease.