Impact of obesity on the psychometric properties of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria for major depressive disorder

Abstract

Obesity is associated with several symptoms that are components of the diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD). Compared with nonobese individuals, obese individuals report more fatigue, sleep disturbance, and overeating. Obesity might, therefore, impact the psychometric properties of the MDD criteria. The goal of the present report from the Rhode Island Hospital Methods to Improve Diagnostic Assessment and Services project was to examine the impact of obesity on the psychometric characteristics of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition symptom criteria for major depression. Two thousand four hundred forty-eight psychiatric outpatients were administered a semistructured diagnostic interview. We inquired about all symptoms of depression for all patients. The mean sensitivity of the 9 criteria in the nonobese and obese patients was nearly identical (74.6% vs 74.3%). The mean specificity was slightly higher in the nonobese patients (82.0% vs 79.5%). No symptom was more specific in the obese than the nonobese patients, whereas the specificity of increased appetite, increased weight, and fatigue was more than 5% lower in the obese patients. Increased appetite, increased weight, hypersomnia, and fatigue had a higher sensitivity in the obese than the nonobese patients, whereas decreased appetite, weight loss, and diminished concentration had a higher sensitivity in the nonobese than the obese patients. Thus, although there were small differences between obese and nonobese patients in the operating characteristics of some symptoms, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria for MDD generally performed equally well for obese and nonobese patients.