Obesity can significantly increase the risk of psychiatric disorder, according to a new study of the potential causal relationship between obesity and mental health.
The association between obesity and mental health is well established, including a 2006 epidemiologic survey of U.S. adults nationwide that found an association between obesity and a lifetime diagnosis of major depression, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, and agoraphobia.
The recent study, however, was the first to uncover whether obesity increased the risk of mental disorder or vice versa. Using 17 years of patient data, researchers found obese patients were far more likely than non-obese patients to develop mental disorders as serious as schizophrenia and that obesity usually predated psychiatric disorder….