title: The triple threat for chronic disease: obesity, race, and depression.
abstract: The authors investigated the interrelationships between race, obesity, depression, and chronic disease by abstracting data from all primary-care patients seen at a family-medicine clinic over a 3-year period. A total of 8,197 patients were included in the analysis. Sixty-three percent of patients were either overweight (26%) or obese (37%). African-American race, obesity, and having a diagnosis of depression each independently and significantly increased the likelihood of having a chronic disease. Also, these risk factors interacted to create an increased likelihood of disease prevalence. Thus, obesity, race, and depression interacted to create a "triple threat" of developing certain chronic diseases.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development (HRS&D) Center for Mental Health and Outcomes Research, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, North Little Rock, AR 72114, USA. steckertracy@uams.edu
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stecker
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Fortney
authors.forename: Diane E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Steffick
authors.forename: Sarita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prajapati
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000208:ethnology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D012307:Risk Factors