Zhongguo quanke yixue (Apr 2022)

Study on the Moderating Effect of Body Mass Index in Correlation of Anxiety and Depression Disorders

  • TIAN Yangli, YANG Zhaoxi, ZHANG Jianzhao, ZOU Xiaowei, FENG Jigao, ZHU Bo, WAN Ailan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.12114/j.issn.1007-9572.2021.01.416
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 25, no. 11
pp. 1368 – 1372

Abstract

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BackgroundAs two different kinds of mental disorders, anxiety disorder and depressive disorder could probably coexist in one with the proceeding of the illness. However, there are few studies on how to prevent and treat the coexistence of anxiety and depressive disorders.ObjectiveTo discuss the relationship between anxiety and depressive disorders, and the moderating effect of body mass index (BMI) in their relationship.MethodsBy use of simple random sampling, 86 outpatients and inpatients with anxiety disorders were selected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University during June 1st to August, 31st, 2021. A self-made demographic questionnaire was used to obtain the demographic information. The Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale was used to assess the anxiety level. The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression was used to assess the depression level. Pearson correlation analyses were performed to assess the relationship between anxiety and depression disorders, and that between BMI and anxiety or depression disorder. Hierarchical regression analysis was adopted to explore the moderating effect of BMI on the relationship between anxiety and depressive disorders.ResultsEighty eligible cases were also diagnosed with depression. The anxiety prevalence was significantly increased with depression prevalence (r=0.70, P<0.01) . BMI had no significant linear correlation with anxiety prevalence (r=0.03, P>0.05) . BMI also had no significant linear correlation with depression prevalence (r=0.14, P>0.05) . BMI moderated the relationship between anxiety and depression disorders significantly (β=-0.16, P<0.01) .ConclusionBMI can weaken the effect of anxiety disorder on depression, helping prevent them from developing into comorbid mental disorders, providing new ideas for developing new dietary standard or exercise patterns for mental health prevention and treatment in the future and expands the research field of nutritional psychiatry to a certain extent.

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