@article{ref1,
title="Relationship between body mass index and depressive symptoms: the "fat and jolly" hypothesis for the middle-aged and elderly in China",
journal="BMC public health",
year="2016",
author="Zhang, Lin and Liu, Kun and Li, Hong and Li, Dan and Chen, Zhuo and Zhang, Li-Li and Guo, Lei-Lei",
volume="16",
number="1",
pages="e1201-e1201",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Obesity has been identified as a worldwide epidemic. In China, the highest prevalence of obesity is observed in adults aged ≥45 years old. This study aimed to describe the association between BMI and depressive symptoms among a large representative sample of middle-aged and elderly in China. <br><br>METHOD: A longitudinal sample of the middle-aged and elderly (6,224 males and 6,883 females) who were interviewed in the 2011 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study was used. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the effects of socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, activity status, health status, physical exercise and body weight on depressive symptoms. <br><br>RESULTS: Approximately 6.94% of the males were underweight, 25.48% were overweight and 8.16% were obese. A higher prevalence of obesity was found among women, with 6.89% being underweight, 31.98% overweight and 14.28% obese. The underweight subjects were more likely to be depressed (odds ratio; OR = 1.30 and 1.19) compared with the normal weight people, respectively, whereas overweight and obese men and women were less likely to be depressed (overweight: OR = 0.76 and 0.80; obesity: OR = 0.64 and 0.65, respectively) than people of normal weight. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Our data are consistent with the &quot;fat and jolly&quot; hypothesis being valid in both middle-aged and elderly men and women.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1471-2458",
doi="10.1186/s12889-016-3864-5",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3864-5"
}