Iron Status and Depression in Premenopausal Women: An MMPI Study

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Abstract
To test the hypothesis that low iron status or other nutritional deficiencies are associated with symptoms of depression in premenopausal women, the authors related blood indices of iron status to scores on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and responses to a mood adjective checklist. Participants recruited locally provided fasting blood samples and completed the MMPI during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. Of 365 apparently healthy participants, 4% had hemoglobin < 120 g/L, 6% had transferrin saturation < 16%, 20% had ferritin < 12 μg/L, and 8% had clinically elevated scores (T ≥ 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 symptoms of depression in women.

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