Body Mass Index and Mental Health in People Referring to Assadabadi Health Center in Tabriz, Iran

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-item General 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.