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Weight gain, obesity risks for depression in young women transitioning to adulthood
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Researchers reported that weight gain and obesity were significant risk factors for depression in young women transitioning from adolescence to young adulthood.
"Clinicians who notice substantial weight gain in female patients transitioning from adolescence to early adulthood may want to probe these patients about their mental well-being," Michelle L. Frisco, PhD, associate professor of sociology and demography at Penn State University, said in an interview.
Michelle L. Frisco
Frisco and colleagues examined the association between body weight and depression in 5,243 young women enrolled in the US-based National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which tracked BMI and depression scores in young women transitioning from wave 2 (aged 13-18 years) to wave 3 (aged 19-25 years) of the study.
Analyses indicated that normal weight (adjusted OR=2.1; 95% CI, 1.14-3.84) and overweight (aOR=1.86; 95% CI, 1.15-2.99) adolescent girls who were obese by young adulthood, in addition to young women who had remained obese into young adulthood (aOR=1.97; 95% CI, 1.19-3.26), were at a nearly twofold increased risk for depression compared with young women who were never overweight.
According to the researchers, the results are consistent with previous studies of weight and depression among young people.
"Analyses of nationally representative and community data have consistently found no association between obesity and depression during the adolescent years as a whole," they wrote. "Instead, obesity and weight gain are related to depression as children transition into adolescence regardless of whether this transition is defined by pubertal development or entry into the teen years (ages 12-14 years). Together, these findings suggest that weight gain is especially salient for depression during major life-course transitions."
Disclosure: Frisco reports no relevant financial disclosures.