Depression and body fat deposition in Mexican pregnant adolescents

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of maternal depressive symptomatology on fat deposition in a group of pregnant adolescents.

A case-control study was performed with 85 pregnant women (45 adolescents and 40 adults) who attended a prenatal care course at a teaching hospital in Mexico City. During the second and third trimesters of gestation, a test proposed by Zung was applied to measure depressive symptoms. Weight and skinfolds (i.e., triceps, biceps, suprailiac, subscapular, and thigh) were measured in all women beginning at week 20 of gestation through 4 weeks postpartum. Monthly evaluations were performed.

At the 28th week of gestation, nearly 40% of pregnant adolescents showed scores above the cut-off points in the depression test, while among the adults this proportion corresponded to 15%. In the adolescents, depression status was related to self-esteem. Percentage of body fat in adult women tended to be relatively constant, while in adolescents a tendency toward increased body fat was found. In adolescents, depressive symptomatology and especially lack of self-esteem and weight gain during pregnancy were the variables that better predicted the fat-increment pattern during gestation, while in adults no variable was found that predicted fat deposition.

Depression status is a risk factor for excessive fat deposition during pregnancy in Mexican adolescents.