Depressive Symptoms in Adults with Obesity and Their Associations with Sociodemographic, Health and Lifestyle Factors: A Secondary Analysis of a Cross-Sectional Study

Background/Objectives: Research indicates a bidirectional association between obesity and depression. The co-occurrence of both disorders has serious clinical implications. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of self-reported depressive symptoms (DS) in a group of men and women with obesity and to identify the health factors, sociodemographic factors and lifestyle elements associated with the severity of DS among these persons.

Methods

The participants in the study were a group of 3742 persons aged 42–65 years with a BMI ≥ 30.0 kg/m2. A multivariate negative binomial regression analysis was performed in order to determine the expected number of DS.

Results

Almost 28% of the participants with obesity showed at least four DS. The factors with the strongest associations with the number of DS were experiencing stressful events over the past year (IRR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.23–1.33, p < 0.001), gender (IRR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.79–0.85, p < 0.001) and multimorbidity (IRR = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.06–1.14, p < 0.001). The prevalence of DS was also associated with some socioeconomic factors (place of residence, education and marital status) and lifestyle factors (smoking, TV-viewing time, sleep duration and regular participation in organised groups or associations).