The association between body mass index, anxiety and depression

Introduction: The increasing prevalence of anxiety and depression is a major health problem, especially in the developed countries. The prevalence of obesity has also been rapidly increasing worldwide. Few studies have examined the relationship between excess body weight, anxiety and depression. Objective: To evaluate the possible association of increased body mass index (BMI) and higher score on the anxiety and depression scale. Methods: The study involved 500 participants older than 30 years (228 men, 272 women, age 57.58 ± 13.68). Anthropometric measurement was performed on each participant. BMI was calculated as Weight (kg)/[Height (m)2]. Anxiety was estimated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (Zigmond and Snaith, 1983). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 19.0 software (IBM, Somers, New York, USA). Results: The mean BMI was 25.09 ± 3.54 kg/m2. The mean anxiety score was 8.35 ± 3.069 with 6.33 ± 0.882 in underweight, 8.03 ± 0.190 in normal, 8.54 ± 0.214 in overweight, 9.39 ± 0.531 in moderately obese, 7 ± 0.00 in severely obese and 12.67 ± 0.882 in very severely obese category. The score on the anxiety scale was significantly higher in participants in moderately obese (p=0.016) and very severely obese (p=0.009) weight category but not in participants in under- weight (p=0.336), overweight (p=0.074) and severely obese (p=0.735) category compared to those in normal weight category. The mean depression score was 6.38 ± 3.169 with 3.00 ± 1.00 in underweight, 5.96 ± 3.079 in normal, 6.75 ± 3.154 in overweight, 7.52 ± 3.501 in moderately obese, 5.00 ± 0.00 in severely obese and 7.67 ± 3.512 in very severely obese category. The score on the anxiety scale was significantly higher in participants in underweight (p=0.052), overweight (p=0.009) and moderately obese (p=0.009) but not in severely (p=0.776) and very severely obese (p=0.332) category compared to those in normal weight category. Conclusion: This study showed that disparities in the prevalence of anxiety and depression exist among people with different BMI levels. It is necessary to take into consideration the obesity-related comorbidities and other psychosocial or lifestyle factors in order to determine the true association between anxiety, depression and obesity.