“Jolly fat” or “sad fat”: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between obesity and depression among community-dwelling older adults

OBJECTIVE: To review the evidence and explore the association between obesity and depression in community-dwelling older adults. METHODS: years or older were included. Two reviewers independently screened the studies, extracted the data and assessed the quality of the studies. The eligible studies were meta-analysed using the Comprehensive Meta-analysis Version 3.0. RESULTS: 0.145) in this group population. The subgroup analyses demonstrated that both female and male older adults with overweight/obesity were significantly less likely to have depression. CONCLUSIONS: The "jolly fat" hypothesis is deemed to be applicable among community-dwelling older adults. Older adults might, therefore, be encouraged to increase their body weight above the normal level to be mentally healthy. Monitoring intentional weight loss among older adults should be reinforced for public health strategies.