Do Anxiety Disorders Play a Role in Adolescent Obesity?
- PDF / 331,293 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 21 Downloads / 195 Views
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Do Anxiety Disorders Play a Role in Adolescent Obesity? Robert E. Roberts, Ph.D. 1,2,3 & Hao T. Duong, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H. 4
# The Society of Behavioral Medicine 2016
Abstract Background There have been few prospective studies on the association between anxiety disorders and adolescent obesity; none examine potential reciprocal effects. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the prospective association between anxiety disorders and obesity among adolescents. Methods Using data from a two-wave, prospective study of 3134 adolescents, we examined reciprocal effects between body weight and DSM-IV anxiety disorders. Results Weight status did not increase future risk of anxiety disorders nor did anxiety disorders at baseline increase risk of future obesity in the overall sample. Stratifying by gender revealed an increased risk of overweight and obesity in males with anxiety disorders, but not for females. Major depression did not mediate these associations. Conclusion Similar to prospective studies of depression, it appears anxiety disorders may increase risk of obesity.
* Robert E. Roberts [email protected] Hao T. Duong [email protected]
1
UTHealth School of Public Health, San Antonio Regional Campus, 7411 John Smith Drive, Suite 1100, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
2
Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, San Antonio Regional Campus, 7411 John Smith Drive, Suite 1100, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
3
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, San Antonio Regional Campus, 7411 John Smith Drive, Suite 1100, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
4
Centers for Disease Control, 5/F 2 Ngo Quyen St., Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, Vietnam
However, more research is needed on the role of psychopathology in adolescent obesity, in particular anxiety disorders and possible moderators (such as gender) and mediators. Keywords Adolescents . Obesity . Anxiety disorders . Prospective study
Introduction Does obesity increase the risk of developing anxiety disorders among adolescents? Or, conversely, do anxiety disorders increase the risk of obesity? The evidence is unclear. Only a decade ago, Zametkin et al. concluded they could find no evidence of an association between obesity and psychiatric disorders [1]. However, there actually have been few studies of obesity and psychiatric disorders in adolescents, in particular anxiety disorders. To our knowledge, there has been only one review which focused per se on anxiety disorders and obesity in adolescents. Kalarchian and Marcus [2], in their review of psychiatric comorbidity of childhood obesity, concluded there is a link between anxiety and depression and obesity based on two studies. Anderson et al. [3] found that anxiety disorders in adolescence did not predict weight status in adulthood, overall or for males. Females with anxiety disorders at baseline were at risk of increased weight as adults. On the other hand, Anderson et al. [4] found obese female adolescents at increased risk for anxiety disorders. Since then, Perkonnigg et al. [5] repor
Data Loading...
