Does co-morbid depression alter the inverse relationship between obesity and substance use disorders Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 06/08/2012

Gearhardt AN et al. – The findings provide support for the proposal that excess food consumption and excess drug use appear to compete over shared neurobiology even when the motivation to self–medicate with either food or substances might be elevated.

• For the current study, the authors examined the associations between major depression, alcohol and drug use disorders, and overweight/obesity status in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults (n=40,715).

• The findings demonstrated that adults with major depression were more likely to be obese, whereas adults with alcohol or drug use disorders were less likely to be obese.
• However, the inverse relationship between substance use and obesity continued to exist in adults with co-morbid depression.
• Adults with depression disorders co-morbid with alcohol (Relative Risk [RR]=0.63, 95% CI=0.47–0.84) or drug (RR=0.54, 95% CI=0.36–0.81) use disorders were less likely to be obese vs normal weight.