title: Prospective study on the association between diet quality and depression in mid-aged women over 9 years.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the longitudinal association between diet quality and depression using prospective data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women born in 1946-1951 (n = 7877) were followed over 9 years starting from 2001. Dietary intake was assessed using the Dietary Questionnaire for Epidemiological Studies (version 2) in 2001 and a shortened form in 2007 and 2010. Diet quality was summarised using the Australian Recommended Food Score. Depression was measured using the 10-item Centre for Epidemiologic Depression Scale and self-reported physician diagnosis. Pooled logistic regression models including time-varying covariates were used to examine associations between diet quality tertiles and depression. Women were also categorised based on changes in diet quality during 2001-2007. Analyses were adjusted for potential confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The highest tertile of diet quality was associated marginally with lower odds of depression (OR 0.94; 95 % CI 0.83, 1.00; P = 0.049) although no significant linear trend was observed across tertiles (OR 1.00; 95 % CI 0.94, 1.10; P = 0.48). Women who maintained a moderate or high score over 6 years had a 6-14 % reduced odds of depression compared with women who maintained a low score (moderate vs low score-OR 0.94; 95 % CI 0.80, 0.99; P = 0.045; high vs low score-OR 0.86; 95 % CI 0.77, 0.96; P = 0.01). Similar results were observed in analyses excluding women with prior history of depression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Long-term maintenance of good diet quality may be associated with reduced odds of depression. Randomised controlled trials are needed to eliminate the possibility of residual confounding.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia. jun.lai@uon.edu.au.|Research Centre for Gender, Health and Ageing, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia. jun.lai@uon.edu.au.
authors.forename: Jun S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, 2305, Australia.
authors.forename: Alexis J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hure
authors.affiliation: Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, 2305, Australia.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Oldmeadow
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, 2305, Australia.|Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McEvoy
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, 2305, Australia.|Research Centre for Gender, Health and Ageing, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Byles
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.|Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, 2305, Australia.|Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.|John Hunter Hospital, New Lambton Heights, NSW, 2305, Australia.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Attia
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis*; D000072001:Diet, Healthy; D002149:Energy Intake; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Depression; Diet; Prospective study; Women