Co-occurrence of depression, anxiety disorders, and obesity. Comparison of overweight and obese patients with patients with correct body weight in terms of expansion of depression-anxiety symptoms

Introduction: Depression, anxiety disorders, and obesity are commonly co-occurring disorders. Due to the scarcity of research on the expansion of depression-anxiety disorders in the group of people with body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25, the objective of this paper is to analyse the level of depression and anxiety in a group of obese patients of the Obesity Treatment Ward, and to compare the group to patients with correct body weight.

Material and methods: The research covered two equal research groups. The first research group comprised 54 obese female patients of the Obesity Treatment Ward. The second research group comprised 54 female patients with correct body weight from the Non-Public Health Centre in Butryny (Warminsko-Mazurskie Province). The applied research tool was the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale HADS.

Results: The statistical analysis of results of the present study showed a significantly higher level of depression: t (52) = 4.81, p < 0.05, and anxiety: t (52) = 3.64, p < 0.05, in the HADS scale among overweight or obese persons in comparison to those with correct body weight.

Conclusions: The results of the study showed significantly higher intensity of depression-anxiety disorders among obese persons in comparison to those with correct body weight. Obese persons should receive standard psychological support during weight loss treatments due to the level of anxiety and/or depression.