Lack of association between metabolic syndrome and depressive symptoms in Colombian adultsBackground: There is a possible association depressive symptoms (DS) and metabolic syndrome (MS), to the extent that treating one condition improves the other.Aim: To estimate the association between MS and DS among the employees of a medical school. Material and methods: Cross sectional study of 159 people aged 41±11 years (88 men). MS was evaluated according to International Diabetes Federation (IDF), National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP)/Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP-III) and ATP-IIIa criteria and the depression questionnaire of the Center for Epidemiological Studies (CES-D) was used for DS. A multivariate logistic regression was performed adjusting for age and gender. Results:The prevalence of MS according to ATP-III was 13.2% (95% CI: 8.4-19.5), to ATP-IIIa was 34.0% (95% CI: 26.6-41.9)and to IDF was 33.3% (95% CI: 26.1-41.2).The prevalence of clinically relevant SD was 15.1% (95% CI: 9.9-21.6).No significant association was found between DS and MS according to the different criteria: ATP-III OR 1.30 (95% CI: 0.40-4.24),ATP-IIIa OR 0.94 (95% CI: 0.37-2.33),IDF OR 1.20 (95% CI: 0.49-2.95).Conclusions: In this series, no association was observed between MS and depression (Rev Méd Chile 2007; 135: 990-6).