Original Investigation

The Association between Obesity–Insulin Resistance and Depression–Anxiety: One Center, Cross-Sectional Study

10.5152/imj.2015.35403

  • Esma Güldal Altunoğlu
  • Cüneyt Müderrisoğlu
  • Füsun Erdenen
  • Ender Ülgen
  • İlker Memiş

Received Date: 03.04.2015 Accepted Date: 03.04.2015 İstanbul Med J 2015;16(2):62-66

Objective:

Obesity is related to mental illnesses. Atypic body weight affects mental health as well as mental illnesses affecting weight. In this study, our aim is to investigate psychological changes in obese patients.

Methods:

Three hundred patients were included in the study. Weight, height, and waist circumference (WC) were recorded. FBS and insulin were measured. Insulin resistance (IR) was calculated. Patients were evaluated by psychiatrist according to the Beck depression–anxiety scale.

Results:

Two hundred and forty-nine patients had BMI of >30 kg/m2 (83%, group1) and 51 people had a BMI of >25 kg/m2 (17%, group 2). Two hundred and thirty females had WC of >85 cm and 47 males had WC of >104 cm. One hundred and forty-two patients had a BMI of >30 kg/m2, and 13 in the control group had depression (p=0.00). Eighty-four patients in the obese group and 5 in the control group had anxiety. Depression and anxiety rates were significantly different according to WC s (p=0.015 vs. p=0.001); 191 patients had IR, although 91 of the patients had depression and 54 had anxiety.

Conclusion:

Our study found an association between obesity and depression in midlife population. These results suggest that obesity may contribute to depression. Also, a positive association was found between depression and IR; the association seemed to be mediated partially by WC.

Keywords: Obesity, insulin resistance, depression, anxiety