The Relationship Between Coronavirus Anxiety Level and Emotional Eating in Individuals with Metabolic Syndrome: A Comparative Study

Değirmenci, Duygu Mataracı Uğurlu Yasemin Kalkan Alemdar Dilek Küçük

Background: The aim was to determine the coronavirus anxiety levels and emotional eating status of cases with diagnosis of MetS according to diagnostic criteria published by the International Diabetic Federation (IDF) in 2005 and healthy individuals with similar BMI to MetS subjects. MethodsThis study was completed with the descriptive, cross-sectional, case-controlled and relational screening model. The full sampling method was used in the study. The study was completed with 105 individuals with metabolic syndrome attending the diet clinic and 109 healthy individuals without MetS diagnosis also attending the diet clinic. Collection of data used anthropometric measurements and biochemical findings, blood pressure and a survey form, the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) and Emotional Eating Scale (EES). ResultsCoronavirus anxiety scale scores of individuals with metabolic syndrome were found to be statistically significantly higher than the scores of the healthy control group (p <0.05). The difference between the metabolic syndrome group and the healthy control group for emotional eating scale scores was not significant (p <0.05)When groups are compared, apart from HDL, blood pressure and all other biochemical parameters were higher in metabolic syndrome subjects (p<0.05). However, when the correlation between coronavirus anxiety scale and emotional eating scale points is investigated in metabolic syndrome and healthy individuals, there was no correlation between the two scales (p>0.05).ConclusionIndividuals with metabolic syndrome had higher coronavirus anxiety levels than healthy individuals;however, there was no difference between metabolic syndrome and healthy subjects in terms of emotional eating behavior.Level of evidenceIII, case–control analytic study.