adherence to the healthy eating index-2015 and its association with depression score in a sample of iranian adolescent girls

Background: depression in adolescents is one of the major public health concerns that can affect educational attainment and social relationships and impose a high economic burden on society. previous studies have provided limited information on the relationship between a healthy diet and depression in adolescents. the present study aimed to investigate the association of healthy eating index-2015 (hei-2015) with depression scores among adolescent girls. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted on 734 adolescent girls aged 12-18 years. data on dietary intakes were collected using a valid and reliable food frequency questionnaire (ffq), and diet quality was assessed based on hei-2015. the iranian validated version of beck depression inventory (bdi) was used to evaluate depression. to explore the association between hei-2015 and depression, logistic regression was used in crude and adjusted models. results: the prevalence of a high depression score in the study population was 33.8%.  after controlling for potential confounders, girls with the highest adherence to hei-2015 compared to those with the lowest adherence had a 37% lower prevalence of depression (or: 0.63; 95% ci 0.40 to 1.00, ptrend=0.03). this finding remained significant after adjustment for confounding variables (age, energy intakes, physical activity, and bmi percentile). conclusions: greater adherence to hei-2015 was associated with lower odds of depression in female adolescents. prospective studies are necessary to confirm these results and clarify whether a causal relationship exists.