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Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2001;155:525-526.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

In their recent report on body mass index (BMI), depressive symptoms, and overweight concerns in a group of third-grade children in northern California, Erickson and colleagues¹ were somewhat cautious in their conclusions but pointed to a "modest association between depressive symptoms and BMI" in girls. The authors base their conclusion on a correlation between BMI and depressive symptoms of 0.14—hardly a correlation at all. Furthermore, as the authors note, the direction of causality in cross-sectional studies is difficult to determine.

The authors controlled for BMI and found that the level of overweight concerns, not BMI, was associated with depressive symptoms. They used the Kids Eating Disorder Survey (KEDS), an instrument standardized in a school sample of children in grades 5 through 8. Thus, its suitability for children in the third grade is not known. In addition, the Children's Depression Inventory was used to assess depressive symptoms, but few such symptoms . . . [Full Text of this Article]