Depressive symptoms and weight loss behaviors in U.S. adults

We sought to determine whether depressive symptoms are associated with attempting to lose weight and engaging in weight loss behaviors in a large, diverse sample of adults representative of the U.S. population. Respondents were 23,106 adults, free of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, who participated in the 2005–2014 years of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Depressive symptoms were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and weight loss variables were obtained from a Weight History Questionnaire. PHQ-9 total was not associated with attempting to lose weight in the past year (OR = 1.03, 95%CI = 1.00–1.06, p = 0.074; n = 23,106). Among respondents who attempted to lose weight (n = 9582), PHQ-9 total was associated with a lower odds of exercising (OR = 0.84, 95%CI = 0.79–0.89, p