Psychiatric Morbidity and Lipid Profile in Patients with Obesity

Background: The psychosocial impact of obesity is of concern in the present world but remains less studied compared to its physical consequences. There is a lack of sufficient data from Asian and Indian population in particular. Objectives: To study the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among the obese. To demonstrate the association of psychiatric morbidity with obesity and lipid profile. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study at a tertiary care center, Kerala, India. Methodology: One hundred and twelve subjects, both male and female, who attended the obesity clinic from May to December 2013 participated in the study. Sociodemographic data and clinical history were collected from each individual. Psychiatric diagnosis was made using MINI-Plus. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was rated in all subjects. Statistical Analysis: Done using SPSS version 18 (Chicago IL, USA). Results: Thirty-seven (33%) subjects were assessed to have a psychiatric disorder. Depressive disorder (17.9%) was the most common diagnosis. The mean body mass index (BMI) of the study group was 31.4 ΁ 4.1. No significant association was found for psychiatric disorders with BMI and lipid profile. HADS depression score was significantly associated with triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL). HADS anxiety score was also found to have significant but weak relationship with VLDL (P = 0.054). Conclusion: Obesity is associated with high risk for psychiatric disorders. Management of obesity requires a multidisciplinary approach. Further explorations are needed to ascertain the cause or effect nature of obesity with psychiatric disorders.