Impact of obesity on immune function and depressive disorder: integrative review

Abstract

Objective: This integrative review aims to search and analyze scientific evidence on the relationship between obesity, immune function, and depressive disorder. Methods: The present study is a descriptive review of literature concerning the keywords: obesity, depression, immunologic, inflammation, psychoneuroimmunology and cytokines. The inclusion criteria were: articles published in english; articles referring to the integrative review and articles published and indexed in the PubMed database in the last 17 years. Results: A large amount of evidence indicates that immune function seems to be compromised in obesity and has, through this, a relationship in the trigger of depressive symptom. However, more evidence is still needed to better elucidate the pathophysiology components of depressive incidences through obesity and associated immunological alterations. Conclusions: The pathophysiological scenario of obesity is closely related to changes in immune function, and these may promote depressive symptoms through various physiological mechanisms and thus negatively impact mental health status.

Keywords

• depressive disorder
• immune system
• obesity
• inflammation
• cytokines