Is the Relation between Waist Circumference and Anxiety Scores Gender Specific?

Abstract

Objective: Increased body weight and especially high visceral fat amount is a public health problem associated with morbidity and mortality. The incidence of stress and related diseases are increasing as well and modulated by body weight. On this background, we aimed to investigate the correlation of visceral fat and anxiety in men and women between 18-49 years of age. Material Methods: The volunteers of 200 women, 152 men were participated in this study. The age, height, weight and waist circumference of the participants were recorded and anxiety scores were calculated out of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 applied. Results: The comparison based on gender and cutoff points for waist circumference, 102 cm in men and 88 cm in women, revealed the higher waist circumference is associated with higher anxiety scores in women than the corresponding men (p=0.028). Conclusion: The results obtained in this study, pointing out the difference between women and men aged 18-49 may help to explain the higher incidence of some gender dependent diseases. The higher stress levels measured especially in wider waist circumference group also supports the role of visceral body fat in this difference. Furthermore, the most frequently used parameter, BMI, is not a good indicator of stress and body weight interaction.