Depression and anxiety linked to obesity
 

Reported October 07, 2009

Common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety increase a person's risk of becoming obese, a study has found.

According to the findings of researchers in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) individuals with chronic or repeat episodes of common mental disorders are particularly at risk.

Researchers said the link between the two is vital to understand effective treatment and prevention.

Led by Mika Kivimäki from University College London (UCL), the authors of the study investigated the direction and possible dose-response nature of the link between common mental disorder and obesity.

Their findings are based on four medical screenings of 4,363 British civil servants aged between 35 and 55 years old, over a 19 year period between 1985 and 2004.

Interestingly, they found that contrary to some previous research, there was little evidence that obesity leads to common mental disorders in people with no pre-existing mental disorder.

"In this population of British middle-aged adults common mental disorder is predictive of subsequent weight gain and obesity," the authors said.

They conclude by saying that if their observed associations are causal, their findings will have important implications for prevention and treatment.