| Title: | Life-course trajectories of body size from childhood to adulthood and risk of incident depression and anxiety: a prospective cohort study |
| Journal: | Journal of Affective Disorders |
| Published: | 27 May 2026 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42208815/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2026.122042 |
Publication 19891
WARNING: the interactive features of this website use CSS3, which your browser does not support. To use the full features of this website, please update your browser.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: While associations between adult obesity and mental health are established, the independent and combined influences of childhood body size and its life-course transition remain poorly understood. We investigated associations of childhood body size, adulthood body mass index (BMI), and life-course body size trajectories with the risk of incident depression and anxiety.</p>
METHODS: We analyzed data from 368,756 UK Biobank participants. Life-course trajectories were derived from self-reported comparative body size at age 10 (thinner, average, or plumper) and measured BMI at recruitment. Cox proportional hazards models estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).</p>
RESULTS: Over a median follow-up of 13.2 years, 11,546 depression and 15,780 anxiety cases occurred. Compared with average childhood body size, both thinner (depression HR 1.09, 95% CI 1.04-1.13; anxiety HR 1.13, 95% CI 1.09-1.17) and plumper (depression HR 1.19, 95% CI 1.13-1.25; anxiety HR 1.11, 95% CI 1.06-1.16) childhood body sizes were associated with higher risks. Adulthood BMI showed U-shaped associations with both outcomes (P for non-linearity <0.001), with lowest risks at approximately 23-24 kg/m2. Trajectory analysis revealed that thinner-to-obesity trajectory exhibited the highest risk (depression HR 1.73, 95% CI 1.59-1.87; anxiety HR 1.33, 95% CI 1.23-1.42), whereas plumper-to-normal weight trajectory showed no significant increase.</p>
CONCLUSIONS: Deviations from average body size in both childhood and adulthood are associated with elevated mental health risks, with adulthood BMI as the dominant factor. Notably, achieving normal weight in adulthood may mitigate childhood adiposity-associated risks, suggesting that weight optimization could yield mental health benefits regardless of childhood starting point.</p>
8 Authors
- Dong-Run Li
- Ke-Ru Li
- Bang-Quan Liu
- Jia-Cheng Liu
- Wen-Rui Zheng
- Ting-Ting Gong
- Shan-Yan Gao
- Qi-Jun Wu
Enabling scientific discoveries that improve human health