Reports from non-Asian populations indicate that painful physical symptoms (PPS) are associated with poorer clinical and functional outcomes in major depressive disorder (MDD). The purpose of this study is to report comparative changes in disease severity, treatment patterns and quality of life observed in East Asian patients with MDD, with and without PPS, as assessed prospectively over a 3-month observation period.
We examined the temporal changes in obesity and sleep habits and their relationship in a prospective cohort of healthy Chinese adolescents. We collected data on anthropometric and questionnaire-measured sleep parameters in 2007-2008. 516 participants returned for examinations in 2013-2015. General obesity was defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥age- and sex-specific 95th percentile or ≥25 kg/m2 for participants aged <18 or ≥18 years, respectively. Central obesity was defined as waist circumference (WC) ≥ age- and sex-specific 90th percentile or using adult cut-offs. After a mean follow-up of 6.2 ± 0.5 years, the mean BMI increased from 18.5 ± 3.1 to 20.9 ± 3.4 kg/m2. The corresponding WC were 63.7 ± 8.9 and 69.8 ± 9.7 cm. General obesity rate increased from 8.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.1-11.1) to 11.3% (8.7-14.4; p = 0.034). Central obesity rate decreased from 16.9% (13.7-20.4) to 13.5% (10.6-16.8; p = 0.034). During follow-up, more participants reported short sleep (<7 hours/day during weekday: 20.5% [17.1-24.2] vs. 15.3% [12.3-18.8]; p = 0.033) and bedtime after midnight (60.5% [56.2-64.8] vs. 16.2% [13.1-19.7]; p