Depressive symptoms and bone mineral density among police officers in a northeastern US City.

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between depressive symptoms and bone mineral density (BMD). Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. BMD of total hip, femoral neck, anterio-posterior (AP) spine, wrist, and total body were measured by DXA using standardized procedures. Mean levels of BMD across gender-specific tertiles of CES-D score were obtained using ANOVA and ANCOVA. Participants included 97 police officers (41 women; 29-64 years). Depressive symptoms were not associated with BMD at any site among men. However among women, mean BMD values decreased across increasing (worsening) tertiles of CES-D for the AP spine (low CES-D=1.22 ± 0.04; medium CES-D=1.05±0.04; high CES-D=1.03±0.04 g/cm2; p=0.035) and for the whole body (low=1.26±0.03; medium=1.20±0.03; high=1.11±0.03 g/cm2; p=0.018) after adjustment. Higher depressive symptoms were associated with lower BMD among female but not male officers.