Investigation of the relationship between eating attitude and body composition of patients with anxiety disorders

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between eating attitude, body composition and disease severity in patients with anxiety disorders. Methods: This is a cross-sectional case-control study conducted between January-March 2018 in Clinic of Psychiatry of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Medical Faculty of Hospital. Beck depression scale (BDI), beck anxiety scale (BAI) and eating attitude test (EAT) were applied to patients diagnosed as anxiety disorder according to DSM-5 criteria and to healthy controls. Body compositions of all participants were measured by Bioimpedance Analysis (BIA). Results: Twenty-five patients with anxiety disorders and 25 healthy controls were included in the study. The BDI and BAI scores of the participants measured the severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms were statistically higher than the controls. (p <0.001). There were statistically significant positive correlations between BDI and BAI, EAT and BMI (p = 0.029, r = 0.436; p = 0.001, r =.630, respectively). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between EAT and BMI (p = 0.027, r = 0.441). There were no statistically significant differences between two groups in terms of body fat ratios. Conclusions: Our study shows that patients with anxiety disorders should be evaluated for obesity and related factors and necessary recommendations should be made.