Psychological Consequences of Obesity in Three Rural Communities in Murş County.

The purpose of our study was to evaluate the prevalence and the psychological consequences of obesity and overweight in three small rural communities in Mures county. The screening included 1371 persons which 65.21% (894) were women average age 53.05 and 34.8% (477) were men average age 54.43. The type of the study was cross-sectional descriptive. We used the BMI (Body Mass Index) to appreciate the classes of obesity and we evaluated the psychological consequences by using Beck's scale for depression and hostility, Hamilton scale for anxiety and the list of 100 adjectives concerning the quality of life. The association between obesity and its psychological consequences was tested analysing data from the contingency tables, using chi square test standard with 95% CI (confidence interval) and calculating for each situation the RR (relative risk). The prevalence of obesity (26.1%) and overweight (34.4%) was extremely high. The association between obesity and depression was extremely statistically significant (p<0.0001, relative risk of 0.64, 95% confidence interval 0.54 -0.76). Obesity was also statistically significant associated with anxiety (p=0.0041, relative risk 0.8, 95% confidence interval 0.69 - 0.93). We found no significant association between obesity and hostility (p=0.78, relative risk 1.03, 95% confidence interval 0.83 - 1.28). Data obtained have implications in obesity management and prevention. We demonstrated that the preventive strategy and the appropriate management of obesity neded the appropriate psychological treatment and support. Further studies will prove the efficiency of combining changing lifesyle methods with medical gymnastics group therapy in this target population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]