Study Links Depression and Obesity

New research sheds new light on the link between depression and obesity and may give physicians new insight into how to handle the growing problem of obesity in America.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham conducted a review of 5,115 men and women ages 18-30 that had participated in the 15-year long Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. While the original study was designed to investigate the precursors of cardiovascular disease, the participants had been asked to rate their feelings of depression and had their BMI recorded.

UAB Assistant Professor of Sociology Belinda Needham, PhD studied the data from the CARDIA study in an effort to determine if depression increased the risk for obesity or if obesity increased the risk of depression.

Needham reported that, “We found that in a sample of young adults during a 15-year period, those who started out reporting high levels of depression gained weight at a faster rate than others in the study, but starting out overweight did not lead to changes in depression.” While everyone in the study gained weight over the course of the 15-year study, those who said they were depressed at the beginning of the study had an average waist circumference that was 1.6 centimeters greater after 5 years than those who had not reported being depressed.

While starting depression seemed to predict the rate of weight gain, initial weight and waist circumference was not linked to the development of depression over the course of the study.

Researchers noted that physicians who are interested in treating or preventing obesity in their patients should see these findings as a push to pay attention to mental health. Treating depression may, according to Needham, be an important part of fighting obesity.