We all know that obesity can cause physical health issues, but it can also lead to mental health problems.
A recent study done by scientists from the Medical University of Vienna and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna found that people with obesity are more likely to also have mental disorders.
This was true for all ages, but especially for women. This important study was published in the scientific journal Translational Psychiatry.
How was the Study Conducted?
The scientists didn’t just guess this. They did a lot of work to get their results. They looked at data about people who had been in hospitals in Austria from 1997 to 2014.
This gave them a lot of information about the patient’s health problems. They were looking for a link between obesity and mental disorders, and they found it.
Obesity was connected to many mental health issues, including depression, addiction to nicotine (that’s the addictive substance in cigarettes), psychosis, anxiety, and eating and personality disorders.
The Importance of Early Awareness and Diagnosis
Understanding this link between obesity and mental health problems is really important.
It means that doctors who are helping people with obesity need to be aware that these patients might also be dealing with mental health issues.
As the leader of the study, Michael Leutner, said, “These results emphasize the need to raise awareness of psychiatric diagnoses in obese patients and, if necessary, to consult specialists at an early stage of diagnosis.”
Finding out Which Comes First: Obesity or Mental Health Issues?
The researchers had to come up with a new method to find out whether obesity or mental health issues came first.
They found that, in most cases, the person was diagnosed with obesity before they were diagnosed with a mental health problem.
In the past, some doctors thought that drugs used to treat mental health problems might cause obesity. But this study found that, except for schizophrenia, this isn’t true.
What they don’t know yet is whether obesity might directly cause mental health issues, or if the mental health problems are there but just not recognized early enough.
Impact on Women and Men
An interesting finding from the study was that the link between obesity and mental health problems was stronger for women than men.
This was true for all the disorders they looked at, except schizophrenia and nicotine addiction.
In fact, men with obesity were more likely to be addicted to nicotine than women with obesity.
However, women with obesity were almost three times more likely to be diagnosed with depression compared to women without obesity.
The Need for Mental Health Screening
The results of this study show how important it is for doctors to screen people with obesity for mental health problems. Obesity is a global issue, affecting over 670 million people.
We already know that obesity can lead to serious health problems like diabetes and high blood pressure.
But this study highlights that obesity is also a risk factor for severe mental health problems. This is especially true for young people, who are most at risk.
Screening for mental health problems in people with obesity can help prevent these issues, or ensure that the person gets the right treatment if they’re already dealing with a mental health problem.
This is the main takeaway from the researchers’ study.
The study was published in Translational Psychiatry.
Copyright © 2023 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
