• Jeffrey R Vittengl.
• Department of Psychology, Truman State University, 100 East Normal Street, Kirksville, MO 63501-4221, United States. Electronic address: vittengl@truman.edu.
• J Affect Disord. 2019 May 1; 250: 193-198.

BackgroundObesity is associated with depression, but a common measure of obesity, body mass index (BMI), combines height and weight. Consequently, which body shape dimensions and sizes are most relevant to depression is unclear.MethodData were analyzed from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey years 2007-2016, focusing on adults age 20 and older who were not pregnant. In this nationally-representative sample (N = 23,739), relations of depressive symptoms with body shape variables were tested, controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.ResultsBody weight and BMI, but not standing height, predicted depressive symptoms. Adults with relatively high body weight or BMI (roughly the top 30-40% of women or 10% of men) had substantively elevated depressive symptoms (d ≥ 0.20) within genders. BMI ranges predicting elevated depressive symptoms among women (BMI ≥ 30) and men (BMI ≥ 36) were higher than standard overweight and obesity definitions, respectively.LimitationsThis observational study was cross-sectional. Future longitudinal and experimental research is needed to clarify potential causal relations between body weight and depression. Other body shape variables may also predict depression.ConclusionsBody weight but not height predicted concurrent risk for depressive symptomatology in the United States. Future research should test whether assessment focused on body weight not adjusted for height, as in BMI, improves depression prevention and treatment.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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