Mediating Effect Of Fatigue On The Association Between Dietary Inflammation Potential And Depressive Symptoms In College Student

Objective To explore the current situation of depressive symptoms of college students,and the relationship between dietary inflammatory potential and depressive symptoms of college students,and explore the mediating Effect of fatigue in this relationship,so as to provide scientific basis for college students to prevent and treat depression.Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study to survey the college students in Hefei,Anhui Province,and a total of 905 subjects were included.The demographic information,dietary intake,fatigue,depressive symptoms of college students were surveyed.The depression symptoms of college students were evaluated with the depression scale of center for epidemiological survey;Use the fatigue scale to evaluate the fatigue level of college students;The dietary intake was investigated using a 3-day24-hour dietary review method,and caculated the daily intake of nutrients and the index of dietary inflammation.We used SPSS version 25.0 and PROCESS plug-in for statistic analysis.T-test,analysis of variance and chi-square test were used for inter-group comparison,and rank sum test was used for inter-group comparison in non-normal distribution.Pearson correlation analysis was used to test the variables’ correlation.The DII was divided into three quantiles as independent variables,and the occurrence of depressive symptoms was taken as the dependent variable for binary logistic regression analysis,and the adjusted OR value and 95% CI were calculated.Mediation effect analysis was completed using the PROCESS in SPSS software according to the Bootstrap test.Results Among the 905 college students surveyed in this study,the total score of depressive symptoms was 9.47± 8.16,of which 193 had depressive symptoms;The total score of fatigue was 6.82 ± 2.85,and the scores of physical fatigue and mental fatigue were 3.40 ± 2.09 and 3.42 ± 1.37;The total score of dietary inflammation index ranged from-0.67 to 3.78.The subjective sleep environment,interpersonal relationship and family atmosphere in the non-depression group were better than those in the depression group(P<0.001).The pressure score of the depression group was higher than that of the non-depression group(P<0.001): the pressure score of the non-depression group was16.21 ± 4.32,and the pressure score of the depression group was 18.55 ± 4.76.The scores of fatigue and all dimensions in the depression group were higher than those in the non-depression group(P<0.001): the scores of total fatigue,physical fatigue and mental fatigue in the non-depression group were 6.25 ± 2.63,2.99 ± 1.94 and 3.26 ±1.31 respectively;The scores of depression group were 8.86 ± 2.69,4.84 ± 1.95 and4.02 ± 1.42 respectively.It existed a significant positive correlation between the dietary inflammation index and depressive symptoms(r=0.130,P<0.05);It existed a significant positive correlation between the dietary inflammation index and the total score of fatigue(r=0.098,P<0.05);It existed a significant positive correlation between depressive symptoms and total fatigue score(r=0.379,P<0.05).Fatigue plays a part of mediating role in the association between dietary inflammation index and depressive symptoms.The mediating effect is 0.052,the total effect is 0.132,and the proportion of the mediating effect relative to the total effect is 39.39%.Conclusion The pro-inflammatory diet is a risk factor for the occurrence of depression among college students.There is a significant positive correlation between dietary inflammatory potential and depressive symptoms of college students.Fatigue plays a part of intermediary role in the relationship between dietary inflammatory potential and depressive symptoms.