Body composition, lifestyle, and depression: a prospective study in the UK biobank

Xingyu Lv; Jie Cai; Xiang Li; Xuan Wang; Hao Ma; Yoriko Heianza; Lu Qi; Tao Zhou

doi:10.1186/s12889-024-17891-6

Body composition, lifestyle, and depression: a prospective study in the UK biobank

BMC Public Health. 2024 Feb 6;24(1):393. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-17891-6.

Authors

Xingyu Lv¹, Jie Cai¹, Xiang Li², Xuan Wang², Hao Ma², Yoriko Heianza², Lu Qi^{3

4}, Tao Zhou^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, No.66 Gongchang Road, Guangming District, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China, 518107.
² Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, 1440 Canal Street, Suite 1724, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA.
³ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, 1440 Canal Street, Suite 1724, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA. lqi1@tulane.edu.
⁴ Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. lqi1@tulane.edu.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, No.66 Gongchang Road, Guangming District, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China, 518107. zhout93@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
⁶ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, 1440 Canal Street, Suite 1724, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA. zhout93@mail.sysu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Background: Obesity has been related to depression and adhering healthy lifestyle was beneficial to lower the risk of depression; however, little is known about the relationship between body composition and fat distribution with depression risk and the influence of body composition and fat distribution on the association of lifestyle and depression. Therefore, we aimed to investigate whether body composition and fat distribution were associated with the adverse events of depression and the relationship between lifestyle and depression.

Methods: We included 330,131 participants without depression at baseline in the UK Biobank (mean age, 56.9 years; 53.83% females). The assessment of depression was sourced from health outcomes across self-report, primary care, hospital inpatient data, and death data. Body composition was determined by bioelectrical impedance. Seven lifestyles (no current smoking, moderate alcohol consumption, regular physical activity, healthy diet, less sedentary behavior, healthy sleep pattern, and appropriate social connection) were used to generate a lifestyle score.

Results: During a median of 11.7 years of follow-up, 7576 incident depression occurred. All the body composition measures were positively associated with depression risk, with the Hazard ratios (HR) for the uppermost tertile (T3) versus the lowest tertile (T1) ranging from 1.26 (95% CI: 1.15-1.39) for trunk fat-free mass (TFFM) to 1.78 (1.62-1.97) for leg fat percentage (LFP). In addition, we found significant interactions between fat mass-related indices, especially leg fat mass (LFM) (p = 1.65 × 10^-9), and lifestyle score on the risk of depression, for which the beneficial associations of a healthy lifestyle with the risk of depression were more evident among participants with low body fat measurement.

Conclusions: High levels of body composition measures were associated with an increased depression risk. Adverse body composition measures may weaken the link between a healthy lifestyle and a reduced risk of depression.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Fat distribution; Mental health; Metabolism.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Biological Specimen Banks*
Body Composition
Depression
Female
Healthy Lifestyle
Humans
Life Style
Male
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
Risk Factors
UK Biobank*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding