Obesity, alcohol and depression in women

Alcohol abuse, obesity and depression seem to go hand in hand for many women.

Studies in the past have linked depression to alcohol abuse. To examine the relations between depression, obesity and alcohol use disorders during young adulthood, researchers from USA studied 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.

It was found that at age 21, 8 percent of women and 12 percent of men had at least two of the three problems. Over time, having more than one of the problems became more common for women, but less so for men. For men, the only association the researchers saw was for obese 27-year-olds, who were less likely to be depressed at age 30 years. But women who were depressed at 27 years were more than three times as likely to meet criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence at age 30 years.

Women who had alcohol use problems at 24 years were nearly four times as likely to be obese at 27 years, while being obese at age 27 years more than doubled the risk of depression at 30 years. And lower-income individuals of both sexes were at greater risk of depression and obesity.

The results show that depression, obesity and alcohol use disorders are interrelated conditions for women. The above findings could be attributed to the tendency of "ruminative coping" - in which a person replays and obsesses about negative events, which may be one of the traits that links alcohol abuse, obesity and depression.