Association between obesity and depression in middle-aged women

Abstract

Objective-Evaluate the association between obesity and depression among middle-aged women.Methods-4641 female health plan enrollees aged 40-65 completed a structured telephone interview including self-reported height and weight, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) assessment of depression, a brief measure of rate was 62%.Results-Prevalence of moderate or severe depression increased from 6.5% among those with body mass index (BMI) under 25 to 25.9% among those with BMI over 35. Prevalence of obesity increased from 25.4% among those with no depressive symptoms to 57.8% among those with moderate to severe depression. Independent of obesity, depression was associated with significant reductions in frequency of moderate (4.6 vs. 5.4 times per week) or vigorous (2.8 vs. 3.7 times per week) physical activity. Depression was associated with significantly higher daily caloric intake (1831 vs. 1543) among those with BMI over 30.Conclusions-Among middle-aged women, depression is strongly and consistently associated with obesity, lower physical activity, and (among the obese) higher caloric intake. Public health approaches to reducing the burden of obesity or depression must consider the strong association between these two common conditions. Obesity is a major public health concern. Among US adults, prevalence of obesity (defined as a Body Mass Index or BMI of 30 or more) increased from approximately 23% in 1990 to 31% in 2000 1 . Similar increases were seen for men and women, across all age groups, and across all racial/ethnic groups. 1 2 More recent data indicate no improvement in this trend between 2000 and 2002 2 . Adverse consequences of obesity, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are predicted to cause an unprecedented decline in life expectancy in the United States 3 .Beginning in the 1970s, numerous epidemiologic studies have examined the association between obesity and depression or other psychiatric disorders. Early research in the UK 4 5 suggested a negative association between obesity and symptoms of depression or anxiety. Subsequent studies had variable results, with some 6 7 finding no significant association Author address: Gregory Simon Center for Health Studies 1730 Minor Ave. Seattle, WA 98101 Phone: 206-287-2979 Fax: 206-287-2871. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. The present paper uses data from a large sample of middle-aged women enrolled in a prepaid health plan to: 1) Assess the association between various levels of obesity and various levels of depression severity; 2) Examine potential confounders of the association includin...

The weight of work: the association between maternal employment and overweight in low- and middle-income countries

“…Dual parental and employment responsibilities may induce stress among mothers and modest evidence suggests that adverse mental health (e.g. depression) is associated with increased overweight among women [43][44][45][46]. It is possible that the rapid transformation of the food and built environment in LMIC, such as the spread of supermarkets and availability of ultra-processed foods, provides an enabling environment for the aforementioned hypothesized changes among formally employed women [47][48][49].…”

Depression and anxiety among US adults: associations with body mass index

“…3 A growing body of evidence has shown that obesity, highly prevalent and increasing in the United States and worldwide, [4][5][6] is associated with an increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] However, most of the earlier studies failed to evaluate the effects of obesity-related comorbidities (ORCs), lifestyle factors (such as smoking, alcohol drinking and physical activity) or other psychosocial factors (such as general health status, emotional support and life satisfaction) on mental health simultaneously, although these factors also affect mental health status 13,[16][17][18][19] or are associated with mental disorders. 16,[20][21][22][23][24][25] On the other hand, some other studies have found no relationship 26 or an inverse association of overweight/obesity with mental disorders in men.…”

Percepções de obesos deprimidos sobre os fatores envolvidos na manutenção da sua obesidade: investigação numa unidade do Programa Saúde da Família no município do Rio de Janeiro

“…O Inventário Beck de Depressão indicou 31% destes (seis homens e 15 mulheres) com escore para depressão, índice compatível com os da literatura (ABESO, 2011;SIMON et al, 2008). As percepções dos obesos deprimidos sobre os fatores envolvidos na manutenção da sua obesidade são apresentadas e analisadas a seguir, associadas a cada um dos cinco eixos temáticos citados no Método.…”

“…A depressão, também considerada um problema de saúde pública (WHO, 2011), afeta aproximadamente 10 milhões de pessoas no Brasil (BRASIL, 2012) e tem prevalência em obesos de 25% (ABESO, 2011) a 30% (SIMON et al, 2008). Por ser distúrbio crônico e recorrente, é responsável por incapacitação laboral e ônus social (FLECK, 2009) e, quando associada à obesidade, é de difícil diagnóstico e tratamento (ONYIKE et al, 2003).…”