Longitudinal associations among depression, obesity and alcohol use disorders in young adulthood

This study examined concurrent and prospective relations between clinical depression, obesity and alcohol use disorders during young adulthood to better understand common etiology and the progression of co-occurrence.

Participants were 776 young adults (393 males and 383 females) who were interviewed at ages 24, 27 and 30 years with assessment of past-year major depressive episode, past-year alcohol abuse or dependence disorder, and obesity. Longitudinal path analyses were conducted separately for women and men, controlling for income and including stability of each of these outcomes.

Among women, depression was positively associated with later alcohol use disorders (ages 27 to 30: OR=3.11), and alcohol use disorders prospectively predicted obesity (ages 24 to 27: OR=3.84). Obesity predicted depression from ages 27 to 30 among women (OR=2.14), but was protective against depression for males (OR=0.31).

Results show that depression, obesity and alcohol use disorders are interrelated conditions for women. A greater understanding of reasons underlying the co-occurrence of these conditions would benefit prevention and intervention efforts.