Overweight and Obesity Associated with Higher Depression Prevalence in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to review and synthesize scientific evidence to assess the association between excess body weight and depression among adults.

Methods: The systematic research of observational studies was held from January to March 2015 on Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, PsycInfo, Psicodoc, Psycarticles, and Isi Web. A prevalence ratio (PR) was adopted as a summary measurement. All articles were evaluated for methodological quality and risk of bias. Metaregression was used to investigate heterogeneity and to identify the variation between the studies in relation to the estimates of the effects.

Results: In this review, 9 studies (N = 171,701) met the inclusion criteria. All articles obtained adequate methodological quality. Most studies had high or unclear risk of bias. Overweight and obesity were assessed by body mass index. People with obesity were 32% more likely to have depression compared to those who were eutrophic (PR = 1.32; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.26-1.38). After a gender analysis, the results showed statistically significant differences in obese versus eutrophic women (PR = 1.36; 95% CI, 1.28-1.34).

Conclusions: There is consistent evidence that overweight or obesity was associated with depression.

Keywords: Overweight; body mass index; depression; obesity; symptoms of depression.