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Depression risk and body mass index among immigrants and non-immigrants in Canada: results from the Canadian Community Health Surveys, 2010–2014

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Abstract

Purpose

Obesity has been associated with an increased risk of the depression in the general population, but it is unknown whether this relationship applies equally to immigrants as well as non-immigrants. Furthermore, the nature of the relationship is uncertain, is it direct or curvilinear? The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between body mass index and major depressive episode among immigrants and non-immigrants.

Methods

To provide more statistically robust data, a series of cross-sectional health surveys of the Canadian population for the 5 years 2010–2014 were pooled to increase the number of immigrants in the study. Restricted cubic splines analysis was used to examine the nature of the association.

Results

Immigrants had lower 12-month depression and obesity prevalence rates than non-immigrants. In addition, it was found that non-immigrants were more likely to develop depression than immigrants, OR = 1.40 (95% CI, 1.16–1.67). Obese respondents were more likely to develop depression than normal weight respondents in both immigrant (OR = 1.55; 95% CI, 1.03–2.32) and non-immigrant groups (OR = 1.23; 95% CI, 1.15–1.32). A significant nonlinear elongated J-shaped association between obesity and depression was found for both immigrants and non-immigrants with increased risk of depression in obese individuals.

Conclusion

Culture-specific, clinical-based interventions should be developed to improve the early identification, treatment and recovery of individuals with a high BMI particularly among those with BMIs in the obese range.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Statistic Canada for the provision of Public Use Microdata Files on CCHS surveys through their Data Liberation Initiative (DLI). YS would like to acknowledge the support of a Chinese Scholarship Council Doctoral Scholarship.

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Author notes

  1. Yingying Su and Wenwang Rao contributed equally to the work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

    Yingying Su & Carl D’Arcy

  2. Unit of Psychiatry, Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macao SAR, China

    Wenwang Rao

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

    Carl D’Arcy

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  1. Yingying Su
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  2. Wenwang Rao
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  3. Carl D’Arcy
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Contributions

YS and WR conceived the idea of this study and drafted the manuscript together. YS conducted the statistical analyses. CCD provided critical feedback towards developing the research question and results interpretation and was significantly involved in manuscript redrafting. All authors have read and approved of the final draft.

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Correspondence to Carl D’Arcy.

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Su, Y., Rao, W. & D’Arcy, C. Depression risk and body mass index among immigrants and non-immigrants in Canada: results from the Canadian Community Health Surveys, 2010–2014. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 55, 1283–1295 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01861-5

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