Abstract
BackgroundGrowing evidence suggests that abdominal obesity is a more important risk factor for the prognosis of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases than BMI. Somatic-affective symptoms of depression have also been linked to cardiovascular risk. The relationship between obesity and depression, however, has remained contradictory. Our aim was therefore to relate body mass index (BMI) and different measures for abdominal obesity (waist circumference, WC, waist-to-hip ratio, WHR, waist-to-height ratio, WHtR) to somatic vs. cognitive-affective symptoms of depression.MethodsIn a cross-sectional population based study, data on the first N = 5000 participants enrolled in the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) are reported. To analyze the relationship between depression and obesity, we computed linear regression models with the anthropometric measure (BMI, WC, WHR, WHtR) as the dependent variable and life style factors, cardiovascular risk factors and psychotropic medications as potential confounders of obesity/depression.ResultsWe found that only the somatic, but not the cognitive-affective symptoms of depression are consistently positively associated with anthropometric measures of obesity.ConclusionsWe could demonstrate that the somatic-affective symptoms of depression rather than the cognitive-affective symptoms are strongly related to anthropometric measures. This is also true for younger obese starting at the age of 35 years. Our results are in line with previous studies indicating that visceral adipose tissue plays a key role in the relationship between obesity, depression and cardiovascular disease.
Highlights
Growing evidence suggests that abdominal obesity is a more important risk factor for the prognosis of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases than body mass index (BMI)
Background relations between obesity and somatic conditions are unambiguous [1,2], there is an ongoing debate about the usefulness of the Body Mass Index (BMI) as a prognostic factor for cardiovascular and metabolic disease
BMI can be measured and reliably, there are some concerns about the reliability of the measurement of waist or hip circumference depending on the precise site at which they are measured [3]
Summary
Growing evidence suggests that abdominal obesity is a more important risk factor for the prognosis of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases than BMI. Our aim was to relate body mass index (BMI) and different measures for abdominal obesity (waist circumference, WC, waist-to-hip ratio, WHR, waist-to-height ratio, WHtR) to somatic vs cognitive-affective symptoms of depression. Relations between obesity and somatic conditions are unambiguous [1,2], there is an ongoing debate about the usefulness of the Body Mass Index (BMI) as a prognostic factor for cardiovascular and metabolic disease. A recent prospective study with a total of 6.355 participants compared BMI, waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR); WHtR was the best predictor of cardiovascular risk and mortality (followed by WC and WHR) [5]. Based on the finding that the measure of abdominal fat provided a better assessment of risk of death among people with lower BMI (in a study with 360.000 participants), screening of WC and WHR was suggested in addition to BMI [6]
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