Macroeconomics

Demography

Depression (economics)

Confounding

Psychiatry

Economics

Anxiety

Environmental health

Psychological distress

Quartile

Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale

Population

Internal medicine

Sociology

Cross-sectional study

Confidence interval

Distress

Medicine

Prevalence

Consumption (sociology)

Clinical psychology

Pathology

Social science

European Journal of Nutrition

Purpose No previous study has examined the associations between egg consumption and prevalence of psychological disorders. The present study was conducted to determine the association between egg consumption and depression in a large sample of Iranian adults. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted on 3172 adults in Isfahan, Iran. Egg consumption was assessed by using a validated, self-administered, dish-based, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. The Iranian validated version of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was used to screen for anxiety and depression. The Iranian validated version of General Health Questionnaire with 12 items was used to assess psychological distress. Depression, anxiety and psychological distress were defined according to standard criteria. Results The mean age of the study participants was 36.5 ± 7.9 years. Depression, anxiety and psychological distress were prevalent among 28.4, 13.6 and 23% of the study subjects, respectively. After controlling for potential confounders, no significant association was observed between egg intake and depression (OR for comparing extreme quartiles: 1.08; 95% CIs 0.80–1.45) and anxiety (OR 0.79; 95% CIs 0.54–1.16), as well as psychological distress (OR 1.03; 95% CIs 0.76–1.41) in the whole population. In men, significant positive associations were observed between egg intake and depression before controlling for BMI (OR 1.68; 95% CIs 1.01–2.80); however, the associations became non-significant after taking BMI into account (OR 1.62; 95% CIs 0.96–2.72). Conclusions We found no significant association between egg intake and psychological disorders. Further studies, in particular of prospective design, are warranted.

Egg consumption and prevalence of psychological disorders in adults