Prospective associations of dynapenic abdominal obesity status with distinct trajectories of depressive symptoms: A national cohort study

Background and aims

Dynapenic abdominal obesity has been shown as a risk factor for adverse outcomes. There is no evidence on the longitudinal association of this condition with different courses of depressive symptoms. This study aimed to investigate the association of dynapenic abdominal obesity status with the risk of distinct trajectories of depressive symptoms.

Methods

We enrolled 11,917 participants aged over 45 years from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Participants were divided into four categories by dynapenia and abdominal obesity status. The primary outcome was the trajectories of depressive symptoms measured by the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression scale during 2011–2018, which was identify by group-based trajectory modelling.

Results

Four distinct trajectories were identified as: low-stable (n = 8179, 64.2 %), low-increasing (n = 2341, 21.2 %), high-decreasing (n = 680, 8.4 %), and high-stable trajectory (n = 717, 6.2 %). Participants with dynapenic/abdominal obesity had the highest risk of developing high-stable trajectory of depressive symptoms (relative risk [RR], 2.15; 95 % confidence interval [CI], 1.46–3.18), followed by dynapenic/nonabdominal obesity (RR, 2.01; 95 % CI, 1.49–2.70), which also had the highest risk of developing low-increasing trajectory of depressive symptoms (RR, 1.47; 95 % confidence interval, 1.19–1.80), compared with non-dynapenic/non-abdominal obesity. Additionally, dynapenic/nonabdominal obesity was also associated with a 52 % higher risk of incident depression (RR, 1.53; 95 % CI, 1.07–2.18).

Conclusion

The status of dynapenic/abdominal obesity was associated with a higher risk of increasing and high-stable trajectory of depressive symptoms. Therefore, prevention strategies and clinical interventions enabling mitigating the harmful effects of these conditions should be adopted.