What is it about?
This is the first study to track levels of depression and anxiety in people living with obesity over 2 years during the Covid-19 pandemic. During this period, our results show that people living with obesity and overweight struggled more with poor mental health compared to people who were normal weight. There was a bi-directional relationship between obesity and poor mental health whereby individuals who reported being heavier, showed worse mental health outcomes. In fact, the scores for depression and anxiety in people living with obesity were clinically indicative of mild-moderate anxiety and moderate depressive disorder. We also found that people who were more depressed and anxious, were more likely to drop out of the survey over time so we conclude that such surveys might be under-reporting distress.
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Photo by Stefano Pollio on Unsplash
Why is it important?
In the future, it is important that we focus on providing combined interventions to support people living with obesity that address both health and mental health issues. If mental health is being under-reported in population surveys, there is an even more pressing need to understand the lived experiences of those living with obesity and poor mental health.
Perspectives
I am passionate about illustrating the complexity of obesity, as a chronic, relapsing and multifaceted health condition, in my research. This study shows there is a complex relationship between obesity and poor mental health, which needs to be addressed in combination if we are going to support distress in people living with obesity and reduce stigma.
Jilly Gibson-Miller
University of Sheffield
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Longitudinal evidence over 2 years of the pandemic shows that poor mental health in people living with obesity may be underestimated, PLoS ONE, July 2024, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305627.
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