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Which Measures of Obesity Are Related to Depressive Symptoms and in Whom?

Received February 1, 2005; revised August 1, 2006; accepted August 9, 2006. From the Dept. of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Ewha Woman’s University, Korea; the Dept. of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of California–San Diego; and the San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego State University/University of California. Send correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Lim, Dept. of Psychiatry, Univ. of California–San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0804. e-mail: wlim{at}ucsd.edu
© 2008 The Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine

The authors asked which obesity measurements were associated with depressive symptoms, whether this relationship differed by gender, and whether controlling for fatigue and response bias affected the relationship. A sample of 129 subjects (66 men, 63 women), with a mean age of 36.9 years and a mean Body Mass Index (BMI) of 26.4 participated in the study. Depressive symptoms, levels of fatigue, response bias, and anthropometrics were assessed. In women, but not men, BMI and percent of ideal body weight were related to depression. However, percent of body fat did not show a relationship with depression after controlling for fatigue and response bias. These findings suggest that women’s depressive symptoms are more influenced by body size than body fat composition, whereas men’s depressive symptoms seem to be unrelated to obesity.

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