TY - JOUR
T1 - Life course BMI trajectories from childhood to mid-adulthood are differentially associated with anxiety and depression outcomes in middle age
AU - Gallagher, Claire
AU - Pirkis, Jane
AU - Lambert, Katrina A.
AU - Perret, Jennifer L.
AU - Ali, Gulshan B.
AU - Lodge, Caroline J.
AU - Bowatte, Gayan
AU - Hamilton, Garun S.
AU - Matheson, Melanie C.
AU - Bui, Dinh S.
AU - Abramson, Michael J.
AU - Walters, E. Haydn
AU - Dharmage, Shyamali C.
AU - Erbas, Bircan
N1 - Funding Information:
We acknowledge the TAHS study participants and previous investigators. We thank Prof. Mark Jenkins, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, a TAHS investigator, but not a co-author of this manuscript, for his assistance with obtaining funds and data collection. We also acknowledge all the respiratory scientists who collected data in the lung function laboratories of Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and New South Wales; the research interviewers, data entry operators and research officers. Finally, we thank the Archives Office of Tasmania for providing data from the 1968 TAHS questionnaires. This study was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia under NHMRC project grant scheme (299901, 1021275) and NHMRC European collaborative grant scheme (1101313) as part of Ageing Lungs in European Cohorts funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement 633212); The University of Melbourne; Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust of Tasmania; the Victorian, Queensland & Tasmanian Asthma Foundations; The Royal Hobart Hospital; Helen MacPherson Smith Trust; and GlaxoSmithKline. We would also like to acknowledge the contributions of the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship in supporting Claire Gallagher’s doctoral research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/8
Y1 - 2023/8
N2 - Background/Objective: Obesity is a risk factor for multimorbidity, including depression and possibly anxiety. However, it is currently unclear how patterns of change in BMI over the life course differentially influence the magnitude in risk of depression and anxiety in mid-adulthood. We aimed to examine associations between BMI trajectories from childhood to adulthood and the risk of depression and anxiety in middle age. Methods: In the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study (n = 2416), five distinct BMI trajectories were previously defined from age 5 to 45 years using group-based modelling. At age 53, current depression and anxiety were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, respectively. Logistic regression models adjusted for potential confounders estimated associations between BMI trajectories and these outcomes. Results: Those belonging to the child average-increasing (OR = 2.24; 95%CI: 1.24, 4.06) and persistently high (OR = 2.64; 1.26, 5.52) trajectories were more likely to have depression in middle age, compared to the persistently average trajectory. However, the odds of experiencing greater severity of depressive symptoms was highest in the child average-increasing group (OR = 2.36; 1.59, 3.49). Despite finding no evidence of association between BMI trajectories and current anxiety, we observed less severe symptoms in the child high-decreasing trajectory (OR = 0.68; 0.51, 0.91). Conclusion: We found an increased risk of depression in middle age among individuals with a persistently high BMI from childhood to mid-adulthood and individuals with an average BMI in childhood which then increased consistently throughout adulthood. Encouragingly, resolving childhood adiposity by adulthood was associated with lesser anxiety symptoms. Taken together, these findings highlight the need to target mental health screening and treatment towards high-risk BMI trajectory groups and the importance of early interventions to prevent and resolve excess weight.
AB - Background/Objective: Obesity is a risk factor for multimorbidity, including depression and possibly anxiety. However, it is currently unclear how patterns of change in BMI over the life course differentially influence the magnitude in risk of depression and anxiety in mid-adulthood. We aimed to examine associations between BMI trajectories from childhood to adulthood and the risk of depression and anxiety in middle age. Methods: In the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study (n = 2416), five distinct BMI trajectories were previously defined from age 5 to 45 years using group-based modelling. At age 53, current depression and anxiety were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, respectively. Logistic regression models adjusted for potential confounders estimated associations between BMI trajectories and these outcomes. Results: Those belonging to the child average-increasing (OR = 2.24; 95%CI: 1.24, 4.06) and persistently high (OR = 2.64; 1.26, 5.52) trajectories were more likely to have depression in middle age, compared to the persistently average trajectory. However, the odds of experiencing greater severity of depressive symptoms was highest in the child average-increasing group (OR = 2.36; 1.59, 3.49). Despite finding no evidence of association between BMI trajectories and current anxiety, we observed less severe symptoms in the child high-decreasing trajectory (OR = 0.68; 0.51, 0.91). Conclusion: We found an increased risk of depression in middle age among individuals with a persistently high BMI from childhood to mid-adulthood and individuals with an average BMI in childhood which then increased consistently throughout adulthood. Encouragingly, resolving childhood adiposity by adulthood was associated with lesser anxiety symptoms. Taken together, these findings highlight the need to target mental health screening and treatment towards high-risk BMI trajectory groups and the importance of early interventions to prevent and resolve excess weight.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85158966099&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41366-023-01312-6
DO - 10.1038/s41366-023-01312-6
M3 - Review Article
C2 - 37161067
AN - SCOPUS:85158966099
SN - 0307-0565
VL - 47
SP - 661
EP - 668
JO - International Journal of Obesity
JF - International Journal of Obesity
IS - 8
ER -
