2nd Edition of International Obesity and Metabolism Conference 2026

Background: Psychosocial factors such as stress, anxiety, and depression play an important role in the development of obesity because they can trigger maladaptive eating patterns and disrupt the body’s energy regulation.

Objective: To determine the relationship between psychosocial factors and eating behavior in patients with obesity.

Methods: This study involved 50 patients with obesity aged ≥18 years who met the inclusion criteria. Psychosocial factors as the independent variable were measured using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21), while eating behavior as the dependent variable was assessed using the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). The association was analyzed using Spearman correlation for nonparametric data and corrected with the Holm– Bonferroni method.

Results: Most respondents were female (58%) and had class I obesity (70%), with a median age of 42.5 years and a median BMI of 28.1 kg/m². Median DASS-21 scores were 22.6 (IQR 14.1–31.1) for depression, 18.5 (IQR 11.6–25.5) for anxiety, and 25.2 (IQR 15.8–34.7) for stress. Categorically, severe to extremely severe depression was found in 60% of respondents, severe to extremely severe anxiety in 68%, and severe to extremely severe stress in 54%. Based on the DEBQ, the median emotional eating score was 3.9 (IQR 3.3–4.2) with 70% in the severe category; restrained eating had a median score of 1.6 (IQR 1.3–1.8) with all respondents classified as mild; and external eating had a median score of 2.5 (IQR 2.2–2.7) with most respondents in the mild to moderate category. The total DEBQ score had a median of 2.6 (IQR 2.4–2.9). Spearman correlation showed a moderate positive association between total DASS-21 and DEBQ scores (r = 0.520; p = 0.001).