Abstract

Background: Enhanced adipose tissue is likely to affect an individual’s mental health. This study aimed to link its indices (BMI/WHR) with indices of depression/anxiety in female medical students. Methods: One hundred and six female medical students were equally divided into non-obese (BMI?24.9+WHR<0.8) and obese (BMI>24.9+WHR?0.8) groups. Depression/anxiety scores were calculated using Aga Khan University Anxiety Depression Scale (AKUADS), Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) while last exam percentage was considered as an indicator of academic performance. Results: AKUADS and BDI scores of obese subjects were higher than those of non-obese subjects (p=0.018 and p=0.030 respectively) while academic score of obese subjects was lesser than that of non-obese subjects (p<0.0001). Within non-obese and obese subjects, and within total study population AKUADS scores were positively correlated to BMI and WHR (rho=0.39, p=0.00), (rho=0.38, p=0.00), (rho=0.36, p=0.00), (rho=0.38, p=0.00) and (rho=0.35, p=0.00), (rho=0.35, p=0.00) respectively. BDI scores within non-obese group, obese group, and in total population were positively correlated to BMI and WHR too (rho=0.40, p=0.00), (rho=0.40, p=0.00), (rho=0.32, p=0.01), (rho=0.34, p=0.01), and (rho=0.30, p=0.00), (rho=0.31, p=0.00) respectively. AKUADS and BDI scores had a negative correlation with academic score in both non-obese and obese subjects (rho= -0.29, p=0.03), (rho= -0.30, p=0.02), and (rho= -0.44, p=0.00), (rho= -0.35, p=0.00) respectively. Conclusion: Within obese female medical students enhanced degree of depression/ anxiety affects academic performance considerably; this calls for shrewder monitoring of their mental wellbeing.