{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,16]],"date-time":"2026-05-16T19:55:05Z","timestamp":1778961305211,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,12]],"date-time":"2021-03-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1615507200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000781","name":"European Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["ERC-2011-StG 282, 413"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ERC-2011-StG 282, 413"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000781","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Both obesity and depression are medical conditions associated with severe disability and biological abnormalities. Our aim was to study associations between Body Mass Index (BMI), depression and biological changes in women affected by overweight or obesity. Methods: Depressive symptoms were evaluated by the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) questionnaire in 200 women affected by overweight\/obesity (mean age of the sample 52.7 \u00b1 12.9 years, BMI 33.8 \u00b1 5.5 kg\/m2). A blood sample was obtained for evaluation of biochemical (oxytocin and vitamin D), inflammatory and epigenetic (methylation of clock genes) parameters. Multivariable linear regression models were used to study the association between BMI or severity of depressive symptoms (BDI-II scores) with different biomarkers. Results: BMI was found to be associated with severity of depressive symptoms (p = 0.050). Severity of obesity resulted to be associated with lower plasma levels of oxytocin (p = 0.053), vitamin D deficiency (p = 0.006) and higher plasma levels of IFN-\u03b3 (p = 0.004), IL-6 (p = 0.013), IL-7 (p = 0.013), TNF-alpha (p = 0.036) and chemokine ligand 3 (CCL3) (p = 0.013, R2 = 0.03). Severity of depression was significantly associated with more methylation of clock genes CRY1 (p = 0.034, R2 = 0.16) and CRY2 (p = 0.019, R2 = 0.47). More severe depression together with higher levels of IL-8 strongly predicted lower methylation of CLOCK gene (p = 0.009); Conclusions: Different biological abnormalities have been found to be independently associated with BMI and severity of depressive symptoms in women affected by overweight\/obesity. The complex interplay between overweight, depression and biological changes will have to be better clarified by future studies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph18062923","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,12]],"date-time":"2021-03-12T11:56:55Z","timestamp":1615550215000},"page":"2923","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["The Independent Role of Body Mass Index (BMI) and Severity of Depressive Symptoms on Biological Changes of Women Affected by Overweight\/Obesity"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Simona","family":"Iodice","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"EPIGET LAB, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Via San Barnaba 8, 20122 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alessandro","family":"Ceresa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4610-0686","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cecilia","family":"Esposito","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Francesco","family":"Mucci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Diana","family":"Conti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Occupational Health Unit, Center of Obesity and Work EASO Collaborating Centers for Obesity Management, Fondazione Ca\u2019 Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, 20122 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Laura","family":"Pergoli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"EPIGET LAB, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Via San Barnaba 8, 20122 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Letizia","family":"Tarantini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"EPIGET LAB, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Via San Barnaba 8, 20122 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5014-721X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luisella","family":"Vigna","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Occupational Health Unit, Center of Obesity and Work EASO Collaborating Centers for Obesity Management, Fondazione Ca\u2019 Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, 20122 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0370-9598","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valentina","family":"Bollati","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"EPIGET LAB, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Via San Barnaba 8, 20122 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3359-3191","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Massimiliano","family":"Buoli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Fondazione IRCSS Ca\u2019 Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Via Francesco Sforza 35, 20122 Milan, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marta","family":"Serati","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mental Health, ASST Rhodense, 20024 Rho, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Stand-Up Project Group","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"766","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(14)60460-8","article-title":"Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980\u20132013: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study","volume":"384","author":"Ng","year":"2013","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neubiorev.2014.12.017","article-title":"Is there a \u201cmetabolic-mood syndrome\u201d? 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