Obesity and depressive symptoms in elderly Koreans: evidence for the "Jolly Fat" hypothesis from the Ansan Geriatric (AGE) Study.

Abstract The current study is to examine the association between obesity and depressive symptoms and to test the validity of “Jolly Fat” hypothesis in elderly Koreans. A total of 1229 elderly (60–85 years old) Koreans selected from the Ansan Geriatric Study participated in this study. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated from the measured weights and heights of subjects. Overweight and obese were defined as BMI ≥23 and ≥25, respectively. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 30-item Korean version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (K-GDS), with a cutoff point of 18. The prevalence of depressive symptoms in elderly Korean women was higher than in men (20.9% vs. 9.2%, p