Association of physical activity with depression and body dysmorphia in young overweight females

Saira Jahan; Maria Malik; Syeda Amen Zara Bibi; Sameen Zahid; Maryam Iqbal; Misbah Ghous

Abstract
Objective: To determine the association of physical activity with depression and body dysmorphia in young overweight females.
Methodology: In this cross-sectional study, 122 young overweight females were taken from different universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad from September 2021 to July 2022 using nonprobability purposive sampling technique. Females between age 18 and 30 who were overweight were included whereas females with any other comorbidity were excluded. Descriptive statistics was applied to measure frequency of categorical variables and mean with standard deviations for continuous variables like age and body mass index. Chi-square test was applied to determine the associations. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22.
Results: Mean age of the participants was 22.6±2.86 years. We found that 74 (61%) females had low physical activity, 44 (36%) had moderate and four (3%) had high physical activity. Mild depression was seen in 25 (21%) females, borderline in 14 (12%), moderate in 28 (23%), severe in 19 (16%) and 7 (6%) had extreme depression and 29 (24%) females had no depression. Body dysmorphia was present in 77 (63%) females and 45 (37%) had no body dysmorphia. Association of physical activity with depression was significant (p<0.05) whereas association of physical activity with body dysmorphia was non-significant (p>0.05).
Conclusion: There was a significant association of physical activity with depression but no significant association was found between physical activity and body dysmorphia in young overweight females.

Key words: Body dysmorphia, BMI, depression, overweight, physical activity.

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