Association of depressive symptoms with dietary habits among Japanese physicians

The aim of this study was to determine the association of depressive symptoms with dietary habits among physicians working in hospitals in Japan. We mailed an anonymous questionnaire with the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology and items about dietary habits to 10,000 randomly selected physicians. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the association of depressive symptoms with dietary habits. The participants comprised 3862 physicians (3025 men and 837 women). Among the respondents, 252 (8.3%) men and 88 (10.5%) women were determined to be in depressive symptoms. For men, “never eat a balanced diet” (Odds ratio; 95% confidence interval, 2.54; 1.70 - 3.80), and for women “eat quite small meals” (3.81; 1.14 - 13.1), “always eat until full” (4.40; 1.48 - 13.1), and “never eat a balanced diet” (3.05; 1.49 - 6.23) were associated with depressive symptoms. For men, “do not eat too much” (0.57; 0.39 - 0.83) was associated with prevention of depression. Physicians should recognize the important role of healthy dietary habits in good mental health. Hospitals should intervene to help physicians address depressive symptoms and dietary habits.