Do diabetes and depressed mood affect associations between obesity and quality of life in postmenopause? Results of the KORA-F3 Augsburg population study

BACKGROUND: To assess associations of obesity with health-related quality of life (HRQL) in postmenopausal women, and whether depressed mood and diabetes moderate these associations. METHODS: Survey of 983 postmenopausal women aged 35-74, general population, Augsburg region/Germany, 2004/2005. Body weight/height and waist/hip circumference were assessed anthropometrically and classified via BMI ≥ 30 as obese, and WHR ≥ 0.85 as abdominally obese (vs. not). Depressed mood was assessed by the Depression and Exhaustion-(DEEX-)scale, diabetes and postmenopausal status by self-report/medication, and HRQL by the SF-12. RESULTS: General linear models revealed negative associations of obesity and abdominal obesity with physical but not mental HRQL. Both forms of excess weight were associated with diabetes but not depressed mood. Moderation depended on the HRQL-domain in question. In non-diabetic women, depressed mood was found to amplify obesity-associated impairment in physical HRQL (mean "obese"-"non-obese" difference given depressed mood: -6.4, p < .001; among those without depressed mood: -2.5, p = .003). Reduced mental HRQL tended to be associated with obesity in diabetic women (mean "obese"-"non-obese" difference: -4.5, p = .073), independent of depressed mood. No interactions pertained to abdominal obesity. CONCLUSIONS: In postmenopausal women, depressed mood may amplify the negative impact of obesity on physical HRQL, while diabetes may be a precondition for some degree of obesity-related impairments in mental HRQL.