Physical Activity and Body Composition Are Associated With Severity and Risk of Depression, and Serum Lipids

Abstract

Background: Physical activity and a healthy body composition are said to reduce the risk of major depressive disorder. Nonetheless, deeper insight is needed into which specific forms of physical activity (and their relation to body composition) are effective in improving and preventing depressive symptoms. Methods: We compared different self-reported physical activities of the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire and body composition measures between patients with a current major depressive episode (MDE; N = 130) and healthy control subjects (N = 61). These parameters were also tested for correlations with depression severity and serum lipid levels in patients and controls. Results: Patients with a current MDE reported significantly fewer hours spent on total physical activity, walking or bicycling for travel, and vigorous-intensity activities at leisure than healthy control subjects. More time spent on vigorous-intensity activities at work, less time spent on walking or bicycling for travel, higher body fat mass, and lower body muscle mass correlated significantly with stronger depression severity. Physical activity and body measures correlated significantly with serum lipid levels. Limitations: Self-reports of physical activity, only short-term follow-up of 20 days, crosssectional study design without examination of causal role of exercise. Conclusions: More time spent on traveling by foot or by bike is especially associated with a lower risk of and milder depression. These results highlight the differential role of physical activity in depression.

Association of depressive disorder with biochemical and anthropometric indices in adult men and women

“…Two studies by Ormonde Do Carmo et al 29 and Hamidifard et al 41 reported that BMI was not associated with depressive disorder. Our findings were consistent with the results of previous studies indicating that depression was associated with weight 28 and was not associated with waist circumference 40 , 42 . Additionally, our crude model results were linked to those of previous studies suggesting that depression was related to BMI in only women 23 , 46 .…”

“…On the other hand, several studies argued that depression was not associated with obesity indices. Von Zimmermann et al 42 revealed that BMI, weight, height, and waist circumference were not different between the major depressive episode group and the healthy control group in German men and women. A study by Wu et al 31 suggested that BMI and waist-to-hip ratio were not associated with depressive symptoms in Chinese adults.…”

“…However, although numerous previous studies have examined the associations of obesity and biochemical indices with depressive disorder, the associations remain debatable. The available literature reports different patterns of association between anthropometric or obesity indices and depressive disorder: no significant associations 29 , 31 , 40 – 42 and significant associations 6 , 21 – 28 have been reported. Additionally, the links between depression and biochemical indices are very confusing and controversial.…”

mRNA Expression of SMPD1 Encoding Acid Sphingomyelinase Decreases upon Antidepressant Treatment

“…We analyzed human samples that were collected for the CeraBiDe (“Ceramide-associated Biomarkers in Depression”) study [ 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. Here, we included MDD patients who were currently experiencing depression, were unmedicated, and had not received medication for at least 2 weeks ( n = 60) and a healthy control group ( n = 61).…”

Ex vivo glucocorticoid receptor-mediated IL-10 response predicts the course of depression severity

“…We analyzed data collected for the CeraBiDe ("Ceramideassociated Biomarkers in Depression") study (Mühle et al 2019b;von Zimmermann et al 2020;Wagner et al 2019), which was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Medical Faculty of the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU, ID 148_13 B, 2013).…”