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Multicenter Study
. 2024 Jan 2;24(1):53.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-17567-7.

Association between dietary diversity, sedentary time outside of work and depressive symptoms among knowledge workers: a multi-center cross-sectional study

Lijun Li #  1   2 , Pingting Yang #  1 , Yinglong Duan  2 , Jianfei Xie  3 , Min Liu  2 , Yi Zhou  4 , Xiaofei Luo  4 , Chun Zhang  4 , Ying Li  1 , Jiangang Wang  1 , Zhiheng Chen  1 , Xiaohong Zhang  5 , Andy S K Cheng  6
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Association between dietary diversity, sedentary time outside of work and depressive symptoms among knowledge workers: a multi-center cross-sectional study

Lijun Li et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Low-diversity diets and sedentary status are risk factors for depressive symptoms, while knowledge workers were ignored before. The purpose of this current study was to examine the relationship between dietary diversity, sedentary time spent outside of work, and depressive symptoms among knowledge workers.

Study design and methods: This was a multicenter and cross-sectional design that included 118,723 knowledge workers. Participants self-reported online between January 2018 and December 2020. Demographic information, the Dietary Diversity Scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, dietary habits (which included eating three meals on time, midnight snacking, overeating, social engagement, coffee consumption, sugary drink consumption, smoking and alcohol use), sedentary time spent outside of work and physical activity were investigated.

Results: The relationships between demographic information, dietary habits and dietary diversity, and depressive symptoms were estimated. Compared with the first and second levels of dietary diversity, the third level of dietary diversity (OR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.84-0.98) reduced the risk of depressive symptoms. Knowledge workers with different degrees of sedentary status (2-4 h (OR: 1.11; 95% CI: 1.07-1.14), 4-6 h (OR: 1.21; 95% CI: 1.17-1.26), and > 6 h (OR: 1.49; 95% CI: 1.43-1.56), presented a progressively higher risk of depressive symptoms.

Conclusion: High amounts of sedentary time spent after work and low levels of dietary diversity are risk factors for depressive symptoms. In addition, an irregular diet and overeating are also major risk factors for knowledge workers.

Keywords: Cross sectional; Depressive symptoms; Dietary diversity; Knowledge workers; Sedentary.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The flowchart of this study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The depressive symptom distribution on different DDS groups. Abbreviations: DDS, Dietary Diversity Scale. Note: The data are presented by percentage of depressed and non-depressed participants in different DDS levels
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The influence of different sedentary time outside of work on depressive symptom. Note: The data are presented by percentage of depressed and non-depressed participants in different sedentary time outside of work
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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