Research paperImpact of obesity and mood disorders on physical comorbidities, psychological well-being, health behaviours and use of health services

•Obesity and mood disorders frequently co-occur.•We compared people with obesity and no mood disorders to those with obesity and mood disorders.•People with obesity and mood disorders reported more physical comorbidities and multimorbidity.•People with obesity and mood disorders had poorer psychological well-being and mental health.•People with obesity and mood disorders had less adequate health behaviours and more use of health services.•Interventions are needed to counteract or prevent the adverse effects of obesity among people with mood disorders.

BackgroundAlbeit obesity and mood disorders frequently co-occur, few studies examined the impacts of this co-occurrence. The aim was to compare individuals with obesity and mood disorders (ObMD) to those with obesity without mood disorder in terms of physical comorbidities, psychological well-being, health behaviours and use of health services.MethodsCross-sectional study using the Canadian Community Health Survey including a weighted sample of individuals with obesity (n = 1298) representing inhabitants from the province of Quebec (Canada).ResultsAdjusted multivariate logistic regressions indicated that ObMD reported more physical conditions with odds ratio (OR) ranging from 1.8 [95%CI: 1.1 − 2.8] (hypertension) to 2.8 [95%CI: 1.3 - 6.0] (stomach ulcer). Also, ObMD reported poorer psychological well-being with OR ranging from 2.1 [95%CI: 1.4 - 3.3] (stress) to 25.6 [95%CI: 14.7 - 45.0] (poor perceived mental health). ObMD also reported more consultations with health professionals with OR ranging from 1.9 [95%CI: 1.0 − 3.5] (physicians) to 7.7 [95%CI: 4.2 - 14.3] (psychologists), and less healthy behaviours with OR ranging from 1.7 [95%CI: 1.1 − 2.6] (fruits and vegetables intake) to 2.1 [95%CI: 1.3 − 3.3] (tobacco).LimitationsSelf-reported data so we cannot discard the possibility of a bias in reporting. Also, given the cross-sectional design, no directional conclusion or causality about our results is possible.DiscussionThe co-occurrence of mood disorder and obesity seems to be an aggravating factor of obesity-related factors because it is associated with poorer health in several areas. Interventions to prevent or manage obesity in mood disorders are necessary.