PsyCoLaus: A Prospective Study of the Links between Mental Health and Cardiovascular Diseases Abstract. PsyCoLaus, which includes an investigation of mental disorders and cognitive functioning, aims to determine the prevalence and the course of mental disorders in the general population and to study the mechanisms underlying the association between these disorders and cardiovascular diseases. This investigation revealed a very high lifetime prevalence rate of 43.6 % for major depressive disorder in Lausanne. We have also observed that the association between major depression and cardio-metabolic risk factors is essentially attributable to the atypical subtype, characterized by an increased appetite, heaviness in limbs, hypersomnia and conserved affective reactivity. Patients who suffer from this type of depression have an increased risk to develop overweight, diabetes and the metabolic syndrome and deserve particular clinical attention on the metabolic level.