Psychosocial stress and central adiposity: A Brazilian study with a representative sample of the public health system users

Flávia Vitorino Freitas, Wagner Miranda Barbosa, Laíz Aparecida Azevedo Silva, Marianna Junger de Oliveira Garozi, Júlia de Assis Pinheiro, Aline Ribeiro Borçoi, Catarine Lima Conti, Juliana Krüger Arpini, Heberth de Paula, Mayara Mota de Oliveira, Anderson Barros Archanjo, Érika Aparecida Silva de Freitas, Daniela Rodrigues de Oliveira, Elizeu Batista Borloti, Iuri Drumond Louro and Adriana Madeira Alvares-da-Silva

PLOS ONE, 2018, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-14

Abstract: Objective: To assess the association between indicators of psychosocial stress and central adiposity in adult users of the Unified Health System (SUS) from Southeast of Brazil. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 384 adults (20 to 59 years old) from the city of Alegre, Southeastern Brazil. The simple random sample represented the population using the public health system of the municipality. The prevalence of obesity was based on the Body Mass Index, and central adiposity (dependent variable) was measured by waist circumference in centimeters. The independent variables were the following indicators of psychosocial stress: food and nutrition insecurity (yes/no), serum cortisol (μg/dL), symptoms suggestive of depression using the Beck Depression Inventory-II ≥ 17 (yes/no), and altered blood pressure ≥ 130/85 mmHg (yes/no). Univariate linear regression was performed between central adiposity and each stress indicator, and later the models were adjusted for socioeconomic, health, and lifestyle variables. All analyses were made separately by rural and urban location. Results: The prevalence of weight excess, by the classification of the Body Mass Index ≥ 25.0 kg/m2, was 68.3% and, by waist circumference, 71.5% of individuals presented an increased risk for metabolic complications related to central adiposity. Mean waist circumference scores for the rural and urban population were 89.3 ± 12.7 cm and 92.9 ± 14.7 cm, respectively (p = 0.012). Indicators of stress that were associated with central adiposity were: cortisol in the rural population (β = -0.60; 95% CI = -1.09;-0.11) and altered blood pressure in the urban population (β = 6.66; 95% CI = 2.14;11.18). This occurred both in the raw analysis and in the models adjusted for confounding factors. Conclusion: Central adiposity was inversely associated with cortisol in the rural population and directly associated with higher arterial blood pressure in the urban population, suggesting a local influence on how individuals react to stress.

Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0197699 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 97699&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0197699

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197699

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().