The findings of this study were not explained by differences in smoking habits, physical inactivity, the presence of depression, the use of antidepressants, or the use of nasal or inhaled corticosteroids, as none of these variables was associated with LLD, AHD, EN-RAGE, sRAGE, or the EN-RAGE/sRAGE ratio. The gene discussed is AGER; the disease is depressive disorder.