Analysis of the association between anxiety, depression and obesity in individuals with metabolic syndrome

Objective. The aim of this study was to verify the association between anxiety, depression, and obesity in metabolic syndrome (MetS) patients. Methods. It is a retrospective study with 142 volunteers with MetS of both genders and age ≥20 years. Every subject responded to the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS). Data are shown as absolute and relative frequencies for categorical variables and a Pearson’s chi-square test was performed to verify the association between anxiety or depression and body mass index (BMI). The value of p≤0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results. The frequency of anxiety and depression was 18.3% (n=26) and 12% (n=17), respectively. There was no significant association between anxiety or depression and BMI (p=0.481 and 0.079, respectively) in individuals with MetS. Conclusions. Although no association among anxiety, depression and obesity was found, the psychological factors should be added to the MetS treatment contributing to a more effective health care in order to find answers to manage and adhere to the conducts carried out from a more humanized and transdisciplinary perspective. The data also indicate that large sample and case-control methodology are required to obtain a more specific evaluation of this association.