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Body mass index and height in young adult men in relation to subsequent risk of mood disorder

  • PSYCHIATRIC EPIDEMIOLOGY
  • Published:
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Abstract

Adolescence represents an important period in brain and mental development, which raises the question of whether measures of body size at entry into adult life influence the risk of developing mood disorders. We examined the association of BMI and height in a cohort of young men with risk of mood disorders throughout life. The study included 630,807 Danish men born 1939–1959 and 1983–1997 with measures of height and weight at conscription board examinations. Psychiatrist’s diagnosis of mood disorders was obtained from national patient registries from 1969 to 2016. The associations of BMI and height with mood disorders were estimated by Cox proportional hazard regression analyses adjusting for education, cognitive ability, migration status drug and alcohol misuse. During a mean follow-up of 26.3 years, 2,608 (0.6%) and 19,690 (3.1%) men were diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression, respectively. We found an inverse linear association of BMI with risk of bipolar disorder, whereas the association of BMI with depression was curve-linear with a decline in risk until BMI around 25 kg/m2, and an almost constant risk across the BMI range above 25 kg/m2. Height was not associated with bipolar disorder or depression. Comparison of brothers, assumed to share family factors of possible influence on the risk of mood disorders, showed similar results although with wider confidence intervals. BMI in the lower range at men’s entry into adulthood is inversely associated with risk of bipolar disorder and depression throughout adult life, whereas height is not related.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from Statistics Denmark. Restrictions apply to the availability of the data that were used under license for this study. Data are available from Statistics Denmark with the permission of the scientific board of the Danish Conscription Database.

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Funding

The work was supported by the Danish Medical Research Council [Grant number 09-063599 and 09-069151], the Velux Foundation [Grant number 31205], the Jascha Foundation, the Health Foundation (17-B-0033), and the Doctor Sofus Carl Emil Friis and Olga Doris Friis grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Environmental Health, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1014, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Gunhild Tidemann Okholm

  2. Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospitals, Nordre Fasanvej 57, 2000, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Gunhild Tidemann Okholm, Terese Sara Høj Jørgensen, Marie Kim Wium-Andersen, Ida Kim Wium-Andersen & Merete Osler

  3. Dept. O, Rigshospital, Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Edel Sauntes Allé 10, 2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

    Maarten Pieter Rozing, Ida Kim Wium-Andersen & Martin Balslev Jørgensen

  4. The Research Unit for General Practice and Section of General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1014, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Maarten Pieter Rozing

  5. Section of Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, TIAS), Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1014, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Thorkild I.A. Sørensen & Merete Osler

  6. Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3, 2200, Copenhagen N, Denmark

    Thorkild I.A. Sørensen

Authors
  1. Gunhild Tidemann Okholm
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  2. Terese Sara Høj Jørgensen
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  3. Maarten Pieter Rozing
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  8. Merete Osler
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Contributions

All authors were involved in study design and participated in discussing the progress of analyses and the interpretation of findings. GTO and MO conducted the analyses and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors were involved in the drafting of the manuscript and revision for intellectual content, approved the final version before publication, and agree to be held accountable for the work. MO is the guarantor for the data and the analyses.

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Correspondence to Merete Osler.

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Okholm, G.T., Jørgensen, T.S.H., Rozing, M.P. et al. Body mass index and height in young adult men in relation to subsequent risk of mood disorder. Eur J Epidemiol 36, 1065–1074 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-021-00783-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-021-00783-z

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