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The Triple Threat for Chronic Disease: Obesity, Race, and Depression

Received October 5, 2005; revised December 29, 2005; accepted January 6, 2006. From the Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development (HRS&D) Center for Mental Health and Outcomes Research, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, North Little Rock, AR, and the Division of Health Services Research, Dept. of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Univ. of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR. Send correspondence and reprint requests to Tracy Stecker, Ph.D., VA HRS&D CeMHOR (152/NLR), 2200 Fort Roots Drive, North Little Rock, AR 72114. e-mail: steckertracy{at}uams.edu

The authors investigated the interrelationships between race, obesity, depression, and chronic disease by abstracting data from all primary-care patients seen at a family-medicine clinic over a 3-year period. A total of 8,197 patients were included in the analysis. Sixty-three percent of patients were either overweight (26%) or obese (37%). African-American race, obesity, and having a diagnosis of depression each independently and significantly increased the likelihood of having a chronic disease. Also, these risk factors interacted to create an increased likelihood of disease prevalence. Thus, obesity, race, and depression interacted to create a "triple threat" of developing certain chronic diseases.

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