Increased BMI Velocity is Associated with Elevated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Scores in Adolescents with Obesity

Existing studies that have demonstrated a positive association between obesity and depression have been among adults, did not utilize the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), or were conducted in a homogenous patient population. In this retrospective longitudinal cohort study of patients >11 and <18 years old with obesity in one health system we analyzed associations between change in BMI between two BMI measurements and PHQ-9 scores using chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests. We used PHQ-9 scores dichotomized at