A Prospective Relation between Depression and Body Mass Index among Three Tribal Populations of India

The depression-BMI association has been vastly studied among various world populations. A generalising positive relation has been found among overweight and depression in a number of studies, an association between depression and low body mass index (BMI) can also be considered. However, no work has been previously published on depression-BMI association among tribal populations. Thus, an attempt has been made in the present study to understand the depression levels in Baiga, Gond and Panika tribes of Central India using PHQ9 and a relation, if any, with anthropometric variables for BMI. A very high prevalence of the underweight suffering from depression was found in all the three tribes, while a very less number of obese individuals were found, thereby establishing a relation between depression and low BMI. Depressed under weights were more frequent in Baigas, followed by Gonds and Panikas.