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. 2016 Nov 29;16(1):1201.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-3864-5.

Relationship between body mass index and depressive symptoms: the "fat and jolly" hypothesis for the middle-aged and elderly in China

Lin Zhang  1 , Kun Liu  1 , Hong Li  2 , Dan Li  3 , Zhuo Chen  1 , Li-Li Zhang  4 , Lei-Lei Guo  5
Affiliations

Relationship between body mass index and depressive symptoms: the "fat and jolly" hypothesis for the middle-aged and elderly in China

Lin Zhang et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Obesity has been identified as a worldwide epidemic. In China, the highest prevalence of obesity is observed in adults aged ≥45 years old. This study aimed to describe the association between BMI and depressive symptoms among a large representative sample of middle-aged and elderly in China.

Method: A longitudinal sample of the middle-aged and elderly (6,224 males and 6,883 females) who were interviewed in the 2011 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study was used. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the effects of socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, activity status, health status, physical exercise and body weight on depressive symptoms.

Results: Approximately 6.94% of the males were underweight, 25.48% were overweight and 8.16% were obese. A higher prevalence of obesity was found among women, with 6.89% being underweight, 31.98% overweight and 14.28% obese. The underweight subjects were more likely to be depressed (odds ratio; OR = 1.30 and 1.19) compared with the normal weight people, respectively, whereas overweight and obese men and women were less likely to be depressed (overweight: OR = 0.76 and 0.80; obesity: OR = 0.64 and 0.65, respectively) than people of normal weight.

Conclusion: Our data are consistent with the "fat and jolly" hypothesis being valid in both middle-aged and elderly men and women.

Keywords: Body mass index; Depressive symptoms; Fat and jolly; Middle-aged and elderly; Obesity.

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