Longitudinal associations among depression, obesity and alcohol use disorders in young adulthood

Objective: This study examined concurrent and prospective relations between clinical depression, obesity and alcohol use disorders during young adulthood to better understand common etiology and the progression of co-occurrence. Method: Participants were 776 young adults (393 males and 383 females) who were interviewed at ages 24, 27 and 30 years with assessment of past-year major depressive episode, past-year alcohol abuse or dependence disorder, and obesity. Longitudinal path analyses were conducted separately for women and men, controlling for income and including stability of each of these outcomes. Results: Among women, depression was positively associated with later alcohol use disorders (ages 27 to 30: OR=3.11), and alcohol use disorders prospectively predicted obesity (ages 24 to 27: OR=3.84). Obesity predicted depression from ages 27 to 30 among women (OR=2.14), but was protective against depression for males (OR=0.31). Conclusions: Results show that depression, obesity and alcohol use disorders are interrelated conditions for women. A greater understanding of reasons underlying the co-occurrence of these conditions would benefit prevention and intervention efforts. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.