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Relationship between psychological stress and metabolism in morbidly obese individuals

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Summary

Background

Despite evidence for a bidirectional relationship between obesity and stress-related mental disorders, the general relationship between psychological stress and metabolism is still controversial. Only few studies have addressed this relationship in morbidly obese individuals.

Methods

The present study investigated the relationship between psychological distress, health-related quality of life (HRQL), eating behavior, negative emotions and body mass index (BMI), body composition and biomedical parameters of metabolism in an adult sample of 123 (94 females) morbidly obese individuals.

Results

No significant relationship was found between psychological distress and BMI, body composition or any of the parameters of metabolism; however, there was a strong and robust association between HRQL in the physical domain and BMI, body composition and several biomedical parameters of sugar and fat metabolism. The results also showed an interesting dissociation in the relationship between BMI and HRQL in the physical and psychology domains. Only little evidence was found for a relationship between eating behavior (e.g. restraint) or negative emotions (e.g. anger) and BMI, body composition and parameters of metabolism. There was, however, a significant gender difference in restraint eating. Other commonly reported gender differences in BMI, body composition, fat metabolism and liver values were also observed in this sample of morbidly obese individuals.

Conclusion

Results from the present study highlight the relationship between HRQL in the physical domain and metabolism. Implications of these findings for weight loss treatment are discussed, emphasizing HRQL as an important treatment goal and the need for long-term psychological monitoring.

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Notes

  1. Results from independent samples T-test

    t=T-test value(df=degrees of freedom)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychosomatisches Zentrum Waldviertel (PSZW), Fachbereich für Klinische Psychologie, Universitätsklinik für Psychosomatische Medizin der Karl Landsteiner Privatuniversität, Grafenberger Straße 2, 3730, Eggenburg, Austria

    Friedrich Riffer, Manuel Sprung Ph.D., Elmar Kaiser & Lore Streibl

  2. Institut für Gender Medizin, VAMED, Gars am Kamp, Austria

    Alexandra Kautzky-Willer

  3. Gender Medicine Unit, Klinische Abteilung für Endokrinologie und Stoffwechsel, Universitätsklinik für Innere Medizin III, Medizinische Universität Wien, Wien, Austria

    Kathrin Heneis & Alexandra Kautzky-Willer

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  1. Friedrich Riffer
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  2. Manuel Sprung Ph.D.
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  3. Hannah Münch
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  4. Elmar Kaiser
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  5. Lore Streibl
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Correspondence to Manuel Sprung Ph.D..

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Conflict of interest

F. Riffer, M. Sprung, H. Münch, E. Kaiser, L. Streibl, K. Heneis, and A. Kautzky-Willer declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical standards

The present study was a retrospective analysis of data collected as part of routine clinical care and outcome evaluation, therefore approval by an ethics committee was not required; however, all procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 as revised in 2008. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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F. Riffer and M. Sprung contributed equally to this work.

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Riffer, F., Sprung, M., Münch, H. et al. Relationship between psychological stress and metabolism in morbidly obese individuals. Wien Klin Wochenschr 132, 139–149 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00508-019-01583-y

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