Bidirectional Association Between Weight Change and Depression in Mid-Aged Women: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study.
Bidirectional association between weight change and depression in mid-aged women: a population-based longitudinal study.
Int J Obes (Lond). 2013 Jul 12;
Singh G, Jackson CA, Dobson A, Mishra GD
Background:There is some evidence for a bidirectional association between obesity and depression. However, studies examining weight change and depression are scarce and report inconsistent findings.Objective:To investigate the relationship between average annual percentage weight change and depression in mid-aged women.Design:Prospective cohort study.Subjects:8246 women aged 45-50 years at baseline participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health were surveyed every three years over a 12 year period. Information on body mass index and depression was collected at each survey. We used regression models to investigate the effect of weight change predicting depression and vice versa, by calculating odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results:Weight gain was associated with an increased risk of prevalence (OR 1.39, 95% CI 1.25 to 1.56) and incidence (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.49) of depression. However, in time-lagged analyses, where weight change between the two preceding surveys was used to predict incidence of depression at the current survey, no statistically significant associations with depression were found. Compared to women without depression, women with prevalent and incident depression had an increased risk of weight gain (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.19 to 1.40 and OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.38, respectively). When incidence of depression was lagged with respect to weight change between the two subsequent surveys depression remained associated with an increased risk (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.41) of gaining weight.Conclusion:These findings suggest that depression may cause weight gain over the next three years, but that weight change (loss or gain) may not lead to depression. Further research at shorter intervals, perhaps 6 monthly or yearly is needed to ascertain whether weight change is an independent predictor of depression in the shorter term.International Journal of Obesity accepted article preview online, 12 July 2013. doi:10.1038/ijo.2013.127. HubMed – depression
The Influence of Secular and Theological Education on Pastors’ Depression Intervention Decisions.
J Relig Health. 2013 Jul 12;
Payne JS
Will a pastor refer to a mental health center? If they feel qualified to intervene themselves, they may not. Because pastors often provide grief counseling, it is important to understand the decisions they make when intervening with depressed individuals. A random sample of 204 Protestant pastors completed surveys about their treatment practices for depression. Fisher’s exact analyses revealed that more pastors with some secular education yet no degree felt that they were the best person to treat depression than pastors who had no secular education or pastors who had at least a secular bachelor’s degree. However, the level of theological education did not influence beliefs about the pastor being the best person to treat depression. In addition, neither secular nor theological education level influenced pastors’ views on referring people to mental health centers for depression treatment. Based on findings, this paper discusses implications for best practices in training pastors on depression and other mental health topics. HubMed – depression