ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2019
Social anxiety symptoms moderate the link between obesity and metabolic function.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reduction of impulsivity in patients receiving deep transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment for obesity.Endocrine · 2021Trial
- Minocycline inhibits microglial activation and mitigates compulsive and anxiety-like behaviors induced by a high-refined carbohydrate diet in male BALB/c mice.Metabolic brain disease · 2025Article
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Obesity: Overlapping Neuroendocrine, Metabolic, and Behavioral Pathways.Nutrients · 2025Review
- The Impact of Lipomastia on Self-Esteem and Social Anxiety in Adolescents with Obesity.Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry = Journal de l'Academie canadienne de psychiatrie de l'enfant et de l'adolescent · 2025Article
- Nurturing healthy futures: social and familial influences on childhood obesity.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2025Article
- Article
- Clinical correlates and metabolic indicators of elevated fasting glucose in overweight/obese Chinese Han patients with first-episode and drug-naive major depressive disorder.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Article
- Cannabidiol ameliorates the anxiogenic and compulsive-like behaviors induced by chronic consumption of a high-carbohydrate diet in male mice.Metabolic brain disease · 2022Article
- Article
- Hospitalization, interpersonal and personal factors of social anxiety among COVID-19 survivors at the six-month follow-up after hospital treatment: the minority stress model.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2022Article
- Article
- Obesity Prevents S-Adenosylmethionine-Mediated Improvements in Age-Related Peripheral and Hippocampal Outcomes.Nutrients · 2021Article
- Relationships between depression and anxiety symptoms and adipocyte-derived proteins in postmenopausal women.PloS one · 2021Article
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Abstract
backgroundObesity is a well-known risk factor for elevated inflammation and insulin resistance. Social anxiety may moderate this relationship, such that individuals who areboth obese and socially anxious may have an even greater risk for elevated inflammation and insulin resistance than those who are obese but not socially anxious; the combination of obesity and social anxiety is markedly stressful.
methodsThe current paper reports secondary analyses from the Biomarker wave of the Mid-Life in the United States (MIDUS) study (N = 1255), a publicly available dataset of American adults. Participants completed a standard scale measuring social anxiety symptoms and had their waist circumference, height, and weight measured by a staff member. They also provided a fasting blood sample that was assayed for CRP, IL-6, HOMA-IR, glucose, and insulin.
resultsThe interaction between obesity and social anxiety symptoms was significant. People with a larger waist circumference and more social anxiety symptoms had greater inflammation and insulin resistance relative to those with a larger waist circumference but less social anxiety symptoms. These results were similar for both measures of inflammation and were robust across both the unadjusted and adjusted models. The results were also largely replicated in models using body mass index (BMI) rather than waist circumference as the measure of obesity.
conclusionsThe current findings build on existing work about the health risks of obesity, extending it in an important new direction by demonstrating that these health risks are stronger among those who are also socially anxious. In fact, the magnitude of the relationship between obesity and metabolic function is 1.5 times stronger among those with more social anxiety symptoms. Thus, knowing whether a person is obese only provides one piece of the puzzle; knowing information about both obesity and social anxiety symptoms is critical for understanding who is most at risk for obesity-related health problems. Thus, a critical next step is for intervention scientists to examine health programs tailored to people who are both obese and socially anxious.
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