Current and past DSM-IV psychiatric disorders are prevalent among bariatric surgery candidates and are associated with greater obesity and lower functional health status, highlighting the need to understand potential implications for surgery preparation and outcome. Future work also will focus on the course of psychiatric disorder during the post-surgery period and its relationship to weight loss and maintenance.

Background-Physical activity (PA) tends to decrease from adolescence to young adulthood, and factors that have been proposed to contribute to this decrease are life transitions. The focus of this study is to examine life transitions, such as marriage and parenthood, and the impact they may have on the physical activity levels of young adults.

Greater efforts are needed to reduce the risk of poor nutrition and exercise habits among patients diagnosed with BPD.

Objective Obesity and decreased physical health are linked to deficits in several cognitive domains. The broad range of cognitive problems linked to obesity suggests a global mechanism that may interfere with multiple neural systems. We examined how variation in body mass index (BMI) is associated with the microstructural integrity of fiber connections in the human brain. Methods White matter structure was measured using diffusion tensor imaging in 28 participants (mean age = 30 years) with BMI scores ranging from normal weight to obese (19.5–45.7 kg/m2) based on standard BMI criteria. Results Using a whole-brain voxelwise analysis, we found that, across participants, the fractional anisotropy of white matter voxels parametrically decreased with increasing BMI (63% of white matter voxels). Midbrain and brainstem tracts were among the pathways most strongly associated with obesity (r = −0.18 to −0.33, df = 27, all p values < .05). We also observed a weaker overall diffusion signal in individuals with higher BMI than controls with normal weight (r = −0.14 to −0.71, df = 27, for 67% of fiber pathways tested, all p values < .05). After controlling for this decrease in general diffusivity, we found that decreases in fractional anisotropy stemmed from both a decrease in axial diffusivity (p < .05) and an increase in radial diffusivity (p < .05). Conclusions Our results show that increased BMI is globally associated with a reduction in white matter integrity throughout the brain, elucidating a potential mechanism by which changes in physical health may influence cognitive health.

Adult mood disturbances are highly correlated with obesity, although little is known about the developmental relationship between mood disorders and weight. This study investigated the relationship between childhood psychopathology and weight over the course of 3 years. Body Mass Index (BMI) percentiles and demographic data of children (ages 8–18) with depression (n = 143) or anxiety (n = 43) were compared to healthy controls (n = 99). Both childhood depression (χ2 = 4.6, p = 0.03) and anxiety (χ2 = 6.0, p = 0.01) were associated with increased BMI percentiles. Compared to controls, BMI percentiles of depressed females over the course of the study differed profoundly (χ2 = 7.0, p = 0.01) and BMI percentiles of anxious females approached significance (χ2 = 3.7, p = 0.06). Males with anxiety showed a greater trend towards overweight (χ2 = 3.3, p = 0.07) in comparison to controls. The major finding that depression and anxiety are associated with increased BMI percentiles in a non-obese sample suggests that childhood psychopathology is an important factor that should be carefully monitored.