ArticlePsychological medicine2019
Weight change increases the odds of psychological distress in middle age: bidirectional analyses from the Whitehall II Study.
Article in Psychological medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations of weight change with perceived stress and depression: a nationwide population-based study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Weight change across adulthood in relation to the risk of depression.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
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4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMood disorders and adiposity are major public health challenges. Few studies have investigated the bidirectional association of weight and waist circumference (WC) change with psychological distress in middle age, while taking into account the potential U-shape of the association. The aim of this study was to examine the bidirectional association between psychological distress and categorical change in objectively measured weight and WC.
methodsWe analysed repeated measures (up to 17 522 person-observations in adjusted analyses) of psychological distress, weight and WC from the Whitehall II cohort. Participants were recruited at age 35-55 and 67% male. Psychological distress was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire. We used random-effects regressions to model the association between weight and WC changes and psychological distress, with and without a 5-year lag period.
resultsPsychological distress was associated with weight and WC gain over the subsequent 5 years but not the second 5-year period. Weight gain and loss were associated with increased odds for incident psychological distress in models with and without time-lag [odds ratio (OR) for incident psychological distress after 5-year time-lag: loss 1.20, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.00-1.43; gain>5% 1.20, 95% CI 1.02-1.40]. WC changes were only associated with psychological distress in models without time-lag (OR for incident psychological distress: loss 1.29, 95% CI 1.02-1.64; gain>5% 1.33, 95% CI 1.11-1.58).
conclusionsWeight gain and loss increase the odds for psychological distress compared with stable weight over subsequent 10 years. In contrast, the association between psychological distress and subsequent weight and WC changes was limited to the first 5 years of follow-up.
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