The Association Between Depression and Obesity Among Adults in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2022

Background Depression has emerged as a significant contributor to the worldwide loss of disability-adjusted life years. Simultaneously, obesity is regarded as a substantial global health issue. The co-existence of depression and obesity can further exacerbate negative health outcomes. Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between depression and obesity in adult populations in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Further, the study aimed to examine the impact of confounding variables and their association with depression and obesity. Methods This analytical cross-sectional study utilized an interviewer-assisted questionnaire to collect data from adult participants aged 18 y/o or older attending primary healthcare centers at the Ministry of Health in Jeddah. The study was conducted at primary healthcare centers in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire included information on demographic characteristics, comorbidities, weight and height, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) tool for assessing the incidence of depression. Results A total of 397 individuals were included in the study with more than 50% of the participants between 26 and 45 years. The majority of the participants were males in the study (56.9%). The self-reported chronic diseases by the participants included diabetes mellites (25.9%), hypertension (23.7%), and dyslipidemia (19.9%). The study found that 12.8% of respondents had depression, 11.1% had anxiety, and 2.5% had obsessive-compulsive disorder. A total of 29.7% of participants had a PHQ-9 score of 10 or more. A significant negative linear correlation was found between the PHQ-9 score of the participants and their body mass index (BMI) results. However, this association did not remain significant when the chi-square test was used. Moreover, diabetes mellites and hypertension among the study sample were significantly associated with moderate to severe depression (p-values = .006 and = .005, respectively). The PHQ-9 score was negatively correlated with the participants' BMI, with a coefficient of -.190 (p-value < .001). Conclusion In the current study, the majority of obese participants displayed symptoms of depression ranging from mild to moderate. However, no significant correlation was established between depression and BMI.