Associação entre sobrepeso, obesidade e transtornos mentais comuns: estudo realizado com nutricionistas da Rede Hospitalar do Município do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Overwheight, obesity and common mental disorders are important public health problems in Brazil and worldwide. The association between both has been investigated by researchers, but the results are still conflicting ones. Studies done with Dietitians have put more emphasis on the practice itself, but only a few approached the health issues of these professionals, especially those related to overweight and psychic sufering. Aim The aim of this dissertation is to assess the association between overweight, obesity and common mental disorders among these professionals. Methods This is a cross study done with 289 dietitians at the public hospitals of the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the period from October 2011 to August 2012. The evaluation of corporal overweight was done by BMI (Kg/m2), through measurement of weight and height, and the common mental disorders were evaluated using the General Health Questionarie (GHQ-12). Socioeconomic, labour and general health variables were also included in the study. Results The prevalence of overweight was 32.3%, and that of obesity was 15.3%. The prevalence of common mental disorders (CMD) was 37.7%. The raw analysis showed a negative association between common mental disorders and overweight (OR 0.68; IC95% 0.39 1.20), and a positive association for obesity (OR 1.34; IC95% 0.65 2.75), which wasn t changed when adjusted by the socio-economic (SES), labor and general health variables (OR 0.60 IC95% 0.32 1.10) for overweight and (OR= 1.09 IC95% 0.50 2.37) for obesity. Conclusion The results of the study highlight high overweight, obesity and common mental disorders prevalence, as well as the magnitude of the association between the events, both with no statistical significance. Further studies to identify the mechanisms involved in this relationship are suggested, as well as studies to identify the factors related to the working and living conditions that might be affecting the Dietitian s health, a professional trained to take care of the health of the population, often to the detriment of his own health.