Relationship between Depression Symptoms and Different Types of Measures of Obesity (BMI, SAD) in US Women

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the relationship between obesity (defined by both BMI and SAD) and various levels of depressive symptoms in women in the United States. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional design. All data were collected from NHANES 2011-2012 and 2013-2014. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was the primary variable used to index depressive symptoms. SAD was assessed using an abdominal caliper. We stratified participates into three groups according to SAD (trisection): T1: low (11.8-18.4 cm), T2: middle (18.5-22.8 cm), and T3: high (22.9-40.1 cm). Other data were collected following the NHANES protocols. We aimed to investigate the effects of obesity on the depression in the NHANES populations. RESULTS: A total of 4477 women were enrolled in the final study population. Participants with a high SAD had the highest risk of clinical depression symptoms (OR = 1.2, 95% CI: 1.1-1.4), which was, in particular, the case for moderate-severe depression (OR = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.1-1.7) and severe depression (OR = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.0-1.9). We also found a significant relationship between SAD and BMI (r = 0.836). We did, however, not find a significant relationship between BMI and severe depression. CONCLUSIONS: SAD had a better correlation with clinical depression symptoms than BMI, especially regarding severe depression symptoms.