Context: The COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented lockdown of millions of Americans from the spring of 2020 to the fall of 2020. Studies done on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and body weight have been important to our understanding of the effects of the pandemic. However, these studies on depression and BMI change have not identified a possible direction of the causality of the relationship between depression and body weight as affected by lockdown measures during a pandemic. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether a diagnosis of depression is associated with changes in BMI during the COVID-19 pandemic for adults (aged ≥18 years). Study Design and Analysis: Retrospective cohort study Setting or Dataset: EHR data from a family medicine university clinic. Population Studied: Adults ≥18 years who visited the clinic within a 6-month period prior to lockdown (October 2019-March 2020) and at least once in the 6-month post-lockdown period (September 2020-March 2021). The lockdown period started in March 2020. 1,211 patients were included. Outcome Measures: Dependent variable: change in BMI; Primary independent variable: diagnosis of depression; Confounding variables: age, race/ethnicity, sex, medications, and chronic conditions Results: Mean age was 59.9 (sd=16.5). Patients were mostly female (n=770, 63.6%), white (n=678, 56.0%), and non-Hispanic (n=622, 51.4%). 18.7% (n=227) had a diagnosis of depression. There was a significant difference in BMI change (p<0.001) between the group diagnosed with depression (mean change=2.11, sd=1.9) and the group with no depression diagnosis (mean change=1.67, sd=1.9). Similarly, a diagnosis of depression significantly predicted BMI changes (p >0.001]). This association remained while including confounding variables in the model (p=0.009). Further statistical analysis showed that age between 31 and 50 significantly predicted BMI changes in those patients with no depression diagnosis while controlling for confounding variables (p=0.027). Conclusion: Individuals with depression had significant changes in BMI during the COVID-19 pandemic, and age predicted these changes in middle-aged adults (30-50 years old). These findings highlight the importance of identifying and following up with individuals with a diagnosis of depression to alleviate effects on their BMI during extended isolation. Identifying patients who might be susceptible to these changes could lead to patient health outcomes.
2023 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.