Obesity and depression or anxiety

doi:10.1136/bmj.b3868

Published 6 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b3868
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b3868

Editorials

Obesity and depression or anxiety

Clinicians should be aware that the association can occur inboth directions

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Obesity and common mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression,independently account for a substantial proportion of the globalburden of disease and its associated economic costs, so it isimportant to determine the interaction between the two conditions.In the linked prospective cohort study (British Whitehall StudyII; doi:10.1136/bmj.b3765), Kivimäki and colleagues lookedfor a bidirectional association between obesity and common mentaldisorders.¹ Between 1985 and 1988, they recruited civil servantswho were aged 35-55 years at baseline and studied them in threewaves over 19 years. They found that common mental disorderswere associated with an increased risk of obesity, and thatthe risk of obesity increased with the number of episodes ofdepression or anxiety. In contrast, they found weaker non-significantassociations between obesity and the risk of common mental disorders.