A meta-analysis on the longitudinal relationship between eating pathology and depression

Abstract

BackgroundDespite the considerable number of studies that have assessed evidence for a longitudinal relationship between eating pathology and depression, there is no clear consensus regarding whether they are uni- or bi-directionally related.ObjectiveTo undertake a meta-analysis to provide a quantitative synthesis of longitudinal studies that assessed the direction of effects between eating pathology and depression. A second aim was to use meta-regression to account for heterogeneity in terms of study-level effect modifiers.ResultsMeta-analysis results on 30 eligible studies showed that eating pathology was a risk factor for depression (rm = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.09 to 0.17, P < 0.001), and that d..