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Obesity, depression often coexist in
Middle-Aged women
Newswise — Middle-aged women are much more likely to be depressed
if they are obese, and vice versa, a new
study finds. Rising excess weight goes along
with less physical activity, higher calorie
intake — and depression — according to the
research.
What is the reason? Depression and obesity likely fuel one another,
said lead author Gregory Simon, M.D.
“When people gain weight, they’re more likely to become depressed,
and when they get depressed, they have more
trouble losing weight,” said Simon, a
psychiatrist and researcher at Group Health
Cooperative in Seattle.
In the study, published in the January/February issue of General
Hospital Psychiatry, researchers interviewed
4,641 female health-plan enrollees, ages 40
to 65, by phone.
The women responded to items on height, weight, exercise levels,
dietary habits and body image. They also
completed the Patient Health Questionnaire,
a measure of depression symptoms.
Women with clinical depression were more than twice as likely to be
obese, defined as having a body-mass index
(BMI) of 30 or more; likewise, obese women
were more than twice as likely to be
depressed.
Moreover, women with BMIs at or above 30 exercised the least, had
the poorest body image and ingested 20
percent more calories than those with lower
BMIs.
The depression-obesity association held even when the researchers
controlled for marital status, education,
tobacco use and antidepressant use.
The association was stronger in this study than in previous,
comparable ones — possibly because the
sample was predominantly white and
middle-class, Simon said: “There is some
evidence that being overweight is less
stigmatized for men, for lower-income people
and for women in nonwhite ethnic groups.”
The stigma of being overweight could hurt self-esteem, and thus,
efforts to lose weight, Simon said. “It’s
not that these women are clueless,” he said.
“It’s that they’re hopeless.”
The takeaway for obese women is to focus on rebuilding their
spirit, which can help with losing pounds,
he said.
Health care providers should glean a similar message from the study
results, said Richard Rubin, Ph.D., a Johns
Hopkins University psychologist.
“Providers need to monitor for depression and treat it in
overweight individuals, especially given the
dramatically increased risk of diabetes
among those who are overweight,” said Rubin,
former president for health care and
education of the American Diabetes
Association.
General Hospital Psychiatry is a peer-reviewed research journal
published bimonthly by Elsevier Science. For
information about the journal, contact Wayne
Katon, M.D., at (206) 543-7177.
Simon GE, et al. Association between obesity and depression in
middle-aged women. Gen Hosp Psychiatry
30(1), 2008.
