Symptoms of depression and anxiety, and change in body mass index from adolescence to adulthood: results from a British birth cohort

• Published in: Psychological medicine 2011-01, Vol.41 (1), p.175-184
• Main Authors: Gaysina, D., Hotopf, M., Richards, M., Colman, I., Kuh, D., Hardy, R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Adulthood; Affective symptoms; Age Factors; Age of Onset; Anxiety; Anxiety - complications; Anxiety - epidemiology; Anxiety - physiopathology; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Anxiety-Depression; Biological and medical sciences; Body Mass Index; Child development; Cohort Studies; Depression; Depression - complications; Depression - epidemiology; Depression - physiopathology; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Mental depression; Metabolic diseases; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Mood disorders; Obesity; Obesity - etiology; Obesity - psychology; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Sex Factors; Symptoms; Teenagers; Thinness - etiology; Thinness - psychology; United Kingdom - epidemiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0033-2917; 1469-8978
• DOI: 10.1017/S0033291710000346

Depression and anxiety have been shown to be associated with obesity and underweight, but little is known about how the relationship varies across the life course, from adolescence through adulthood. We aimed to investigate the association between adolescent- and adult-onset affective symptoms and body mass index (BMI) change from age 15 to 53 years. We used data from a British birth cohort born in 1946 and followed up ever since. The relationship between affective symptom profiles, distinguishing adolescent-onset and adult-onset symptoms, and BMI change from adolescence to age 53 years was investigated using multilevel models. Women with adolescent-onset symptoms had lower mean BMI at age 15 years, faster rates of increase across adulthood, and higher BMI at age 53 years than those with no symptoms. Men with adolescent-onset symptoms had lower BMI at all ages from 15 to 53 years. The BMI trajectories of men and women with adult-onset symptoms did not differ from those with absence of symptoms at all ages. The relationship between affective symptoms and change in BMI varies by sex and age at onset of symptoms. Adolescence may be an important period for the development of the association between affective symptoms and weight gain in girls. Intervention to prevent increases in BMI across adult life in women with adolescent-onset symptoms, even if they are not overweight at this age, should be considered.