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Published on: November 21, 2013
Self-reported depressive symptoms in adolescence increase the risk for obesity and high BP in adulthood
Sharan Srinivas1, Suchithra Rajendran1, Kavin Anand2
1Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, United States of America; Department of Marketing, Trulaske College of Business, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, United States of America.
Background:
Negative psychological symptoms may impact cardiovascular (CV) risk factors such as obesity and abnormal blood pressure (BP). Currently, a third of the US population is obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and nearly half have high BP (BP > 120/80 mmHg). This research aims to investigate whether self-reported depressive symptoms in adolescence affect adulthood obesity and high BP.
Methods:
We leveraged the data from a representative sample of US individuals collected by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). We identified the survey questions pertaining to self-reported depressive symptoms in over 14,000 adolescents. Based on their follow-up health test in adulthood, we evaluated the impact of adolescent depressive symptoms on adulthood obesity and high BP by adjusting for socio-demographic, socio-economic and adolescent health status.
Results:
This study reveals a high prevalence of obesity (36%) and high BP (66%) among young US adults with an average age of only 28 years. Excessive moodiness in adolescence significantly impacted the development of obesity in early adulthood (p-value <0.001). 'Feeling sad' on most days in adolescence significantly increases the risk of obesity (p-value 0.01) and high BP (p-value <0.03) in early adulthood.
Conclusions:
This study demonstrates self-reported moodiness in adolescence to be a significant predictor of obesity in adulthood. Feeling sad on most days increase the subsequent risk for high BP. Early intervention may improve lifestyle and CV outcomes.
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