By Spearman correlation analysis, the plasma nesfatin-1 level was significantly correlated with age (r = − 0.287, P = 0.003), duration of depression (r = 0.302, P = 0.002), BMI (r = − 0.305, P = 0.002), FBG (r = − 0.287, P = 0.003), TC (r = 0.254, P = 0.010), HDL-C (r = 0.232, P = 0.019), TSH (r = 0.350, P < 0.001), and HAMD-17 score (r = 0.651, P < 0.001, Fig. 1) in the depressive patients. Here, NUCB2 is linked to depressive symptom measurement.