Abstract

Background: Obesity is associated with conditions like hypertension, coronary arteriosclerosis, elevated cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, stroke and certain types of cancers. Psychologically it is associated with several problems such as lower self-concept, negative self-evaluation, decreased self-image, anxiety and depression.

Aims & Objective: To find the association between anxiety and obesity in medical students.

Materials and methods: A cross sectional study of one hundred twenty seven 1st year medical students was conducted. They were
screened for body mass index. The students were divided into three groups according to WHO technical series 854 recommended cut off values. The students were assessed with Zungself rating anxiety scale. The anxiety scores were quantified into normal (20-44), mild to moderate (45-59), moderate to severe (60-74), extreme severe (75-80). The overweight and anxiety scores were compared by Casper X2 test, gender differences and anxiety scores were compared with X2 With Yates Correction.

Results: Among students with BMI cut off value 85th percentile, 31 (93.9%) and 2 (6.1%) had normal and abnormal anxiety scores respectively. Majority of male students [94.3% (n= 50)] and female [91.6% (n=76)] showed normal anxiety scores.

Conclusion: In this study, there was no association between overweight and anxiety scores. The gender did not appear to be related to anxiety scores.

Key words: Medical Students; Zung Self Rating Anxiety Scale