Iron status and depression in premenopausal women: An MMPI study

To test the hypothesis that low iron status or other nutritional deficienci es are associated with symptoms of depression in premenopausal women, the a uthors related blood indices of iron status to scores on the Minnesota Mult iphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and responses to a mood adjective chec klist, Participants recruited locally provided fasting blood samples and co mpleted the MMPI during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. Of 365 apparently healthy participants, 4% had hemoglobin < 120 g/L, 6% had trans fewin saturation < 16%, 20% hadferritin < 12 mu g/L, and 8% had clinically elevated scares (T greater than or equal to 70) on the Depression scale of the MMPI. The frequency of elevated MMPI Depression scores was unrelated to the frequency of low hemoglobin, transferrin saturation, or ferritin. The results do not support the hypothesis that low iron status contributes to s ymptoms of depression in women.