Abstract:
Objective: To identify a new marker for depression amongst the elderly residing in old age institutes (OAI) of Karachi.
Study Design and Setting: This was a case control study which was carried out by visiting different private old age
institutions in the city of Karachi, Pakistan from 2017- 2018.
Methodology: A total of 164 people aged 60 years or more were enrolled via convenient sampling. Basic anthropometric
variables were measured, lipid profile was estimated as well as serum Visfatin was estimated via ELISA and was also
estimated.
Results: The BMI, serum triglyceride and visfatin in depressed subjects were significant with p values < 0.001 **, < 0.004*
and < 0.001* respectively. Systolic blood pressure was highly significant in depressed subjects when compared with control
cases p value < 0.000**.The diastolic blood pressure was significant p value < 0.001* as well. Visfatin was found to be
negatively correlated with triglycerides, BMI and LDL and it was weakly correlated with depression.
Conclusion: The levels of visfatin were found raised in the depressed individuals but they were statistically not significant.
It is suggested that more studies on visfatin can be done to find its association in the identification of depressive symptoms
in patients suffering from depression
