[Body mass index and mental health in people referring to assadabadi health center in Tabriz, Iran]

ABSTRACT

Obesity is known as a public health issue. In addition to common problems,it also affects the mental health. The environmental factors are very effective on mental health among which nutrition and BMI have a critical role. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between BMI and mental health in Tabriz Assadabadi Health Center. This cross-sectional and analytic study was performed out on 500 people referring to assadabadi health center in Tabriz Assadabadi Health Center. Using a questionnaire, individual, population and community information was obtained from each case including sex, age, weight, height, family size, income, education, and occupation. A 28-itemGeneral Health Questionnaire [GHQ] was used for evaluation of mental health. Data were analyzed using Mann-whitney test. This study was performed on 127 men and 373 women, with mean age of 37.92 and 32.85 years, respectively. The BMI of 36.5% of the cases was in normal range, 33.5% of cases were overweight, and 22.9% were obese. Regarding mental health indexes, 51.8% of the subjects were healthy and 48.2% were unhealthy according to GHQ-28. There was a significant statistical relationship between BMI and mental health condition [p= 0.015]. The results of this study underlined that body weight could be related to mental health