Abstract
Objective:
The aim of this study was to investigate associations between underweight, overweight and obesity in young adult men and risk of disability pension (DP) due to psychiatric disorders.
Design and subjects:
In this nationwide study of 1 110 139 Swedish men (mean age 18.3±0.5 years), weight, height and muscular strength were measured at mandatory military conscription testing (1969–1994). Information on DP (1971–2006), residential area, parental socioeconomic position and education and preexisting psychiatric disorders was obtained by record linkage of national registers.
Results:
During 26 million person-years of follow-up, 19 684 men received DP due to psychiatric disorders. After adjustment, hazard ratios (HRs) due to any psychiatric disorder were 1.20 (95% CI: 1.15–1.26) for underweight, 1.14 (95% CI: 1.08–1.21) for overweight and 1.43 (95% CI: 1.28–1.60) for obesity compared to normal weight. For affective disorders, HRs were elevated for underweight (1.24, 95% CI: 1.16–1.32), overweight (1.19, 95% CI: 1.10–1.28) and obesity (1.55, 95% CI: 1.33–1.81), whereas for substance abuse increased risks were seen only for underweight (1.41, 95% CI: 1.23–1.61) and obesity (1.50, 95% CI: 1.07–2.12). For nonaffective disorders (including schizophrenia) overweight (HR=0.87, 95% CI: 0.76–1.00) and obesity (HR=0.79, 95% CI: 0.57–1.10) seemed to be protective, although not statistically significant. HRs for personality disorders were increased for underweight (1.18, 95% CI: 1.04–1.34), overweight (1.16, 95% CI: 1.00–1.30) and obesity (1.40, 95% CI: 1.03–1.90).
Conclusion:
Underweight and overweight were associated with small risk increases, whereas higher risks for DP were generally found for obesity.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Neovius M, Teixeira-Pinto A, Rasmussen F . Shift in the composition of obesity in young adult men in Sweden over a third of a century. Int J Obes 2008; 32: 832–836.
World Health Organization. Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic. Report of a WHO consultation. World Health Organ Tech Rep Ser 2000; 894: 1–253.
Karnehed N, Rasmussen F, Kark M . Obesity in young adulthood and later disability pension: a population-based cohort study of 366 929 Swedish men. Scand J Public Health 2007; 35: 48–54.
Neovius M, Kark M, Rasmussen F . Association between obesity status in young adulthood and disability pension. Int J Obes 2008; 32: 1319–1326.
Neovius M, Sundström J, Rasmussen F . Combined effects of overweight and smoking in late adolescence on subsequent mortality: nationwide cohort study. BMJ 2009; 338: b496.
Försäkringskassan. Psykiska sjukdomar och sjukdomar i rörelseorganen—nybeviljade förtidspensioner, sjukersättningar och aktivitivetsersättningar 1987–2005. Redovisar 2007; 4: 1–39.
Simon GE, Von Korff M, Saunders K, Miglioretti DL, Crane PK, van Belle G et al. Association between obesity and psychiatric disorders in the US adult population. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2006; 3: 824–830.
Roberts RE, Deleger S, Strawbridge WJ, Kaplan GA . Prospective association between obesity and depression: evidence from the Alameda County Study. Int J Obes 2003; 27: 514–521.
Petry NM, Barry D, Pietrzak RH, Wagner JA . Overweight and obesity are associated with psychiatric disorders: results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Psychosom Med 2008; 70: 288–297.
Brownell KD, Wadden TA . Etiology and treatment of obesity: understanding a serious, prevalent, and refractory disorder. J Consult Clin Psychol 1992; 60: 505–517.
Atlantis E, Ball K . Association between weight perception and psychological distress. Int J Obes 2008; 32: 715–721.
Månsson NO, Eriksson KF, Israelsson B, Ranstam J, Melander A, Råstam L . Body mass index and disability pension in middle-aged men–non-linear relations. Int J Epidemiol 1996; 25: 80–85.
Rissanen A, Heliovaara M, Knekt P, Reunanen A, Aromaa A, Maatela J . Risk of disability and mortality due to overweight in a Finnish population. BMJ 1990; 301: 835–837.
Rasmussen F, Johansson M, Hansen HO . Trends in overweight and obesity among 18-year-old males in Sweden between 1971 and 1995. Acta Paediatr 1999; 88: 431–437.
Neovius M, Rasmussen F . Place of residence and obesity in 1 580 913 young Swedish men between 1969 and 2005. Obesity 2007; 16: 671–676.
Mittendorfer-Rutz E, Rasmussen F, Wasserman D . Familial clustering of suicidal behaviour and psychopathology in young suicide attempters: a register-based nested case control study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2008; 43: 28–36.
Cox RD . Regression models and life-tables. J R Stat Soc 1972; B34: 187–220.
Puhl RM, Moss-Racusin CA, Schwartz MB, Brownell KD . Weight stigmatization and bias reduction: perspectives of overweight and obese adults. Health Educ Res 2008; 23: 347–358.
Kivimaki M, Ferrie JE, Hagberg J, Head J, Westerlund H, Vahtera J et al. Diagnosis-specific sick leave as a risk marker for disability pension in a Swedish population. J Epidemiol Community Health 2007; 61: 915–920.
Karnehed N, Rasmussen F, Hemmingsson T, Tynelius P . Obesity and attained education: cohort study of more than 700 000 Swedish men. Obesity 2006; 14: 1421–1428.
Mittendorfer-Rutz E, Rasmussen F, Wasserman D . Restricted fetal growth and adverse maternal psychosocial and socioeconomic conditions as risk factors for suicidal behaviour of offspring: a cohort study. Lancet 2004; 364: 1135–1140.
Lissau I, Sorensen TI . Parental neglect during childhood and increased risk of obesity in young adulthood. Lancet 1994; 343: 324–327.
Magnusson PK, Rasmussen F, Lawlor DA, Tynelius P, Gunnell D . Association of body mass index with suicide mortality: a prospective cohort study of more than one million men. Am J Epidemiol 2006; 163: 1–8.
Zammit S, Rasmussen F, Farahmand B, Gunnell D, Lewis G, Tynelius P et al. Height and body mass index in young adulthood and risk of schizophrenia: a longitudinal study of 1 347 520 Swedish men. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2007; 116: 378–385.
McElroy SL, Kotwal R, Malhotra S, Nelson EB, Keck PE, Nemeroff CB . Are mood disorders and obesity related? A review for the mental health professional. J Clin Psychiatry 2004; 65: 634–651.
Roberts RJ . Can self-reported data accurately describe the prevalence of overweight? Public Health 1995; 109: 275–284.
Upmark M, Lundberg I, Sadigh J, Bigert C . Conditions during childhood and adolescence as explanations of social class differences in disability pension among young men. Scand J Public Health 2001; 29: 96–103.
Roberts RE, Strawbridge WJ, Deleger S, Kaplan GA . Are the fat more jolly? Ann Behav Med 2002; 24: 169–180.
Guo SS, Wu W, Chumlea WC, Roche AF . Predicting overweight and obesity in adulthood from body mass index values in childhood and adolescence. Am J Clin Nutr 2002; 76: 653–658.
Acknowledgements
We thank Per Tynelius for statistical advice. Martin Neovius was funded by Arbetsmarknadens Försäkrings-och Aktiebolag (AFA).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the International Journal of Obesity website
Supplementary information
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kark, M., Neovius, M. & Rasmussen, F. Obesity status and risk of disability pension due to psychiatric disorders. Int J Obes 34, 726–732 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.298
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2009.298
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
The Swedish military conscription register: opportunities for its use in medical research
European Journal of Epidemiology (2022)
-
A prospective cohort study of disability pension due to mental diagnoses: the importance of health factors and behaviors
BMC Public Health (2013)
-
Health problems account for a small part of the association between socioeconomic status and disability pension award. Results from the Hordaland Health Study
BMC Public Health (2011)