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. 2015 Mar;7(1):63-8.
doi: 10.4274/jcrpe.1515.

Social anxiety, depression and self-esteem in obese adolescent girls with acanthosis nigricans

Özgür Pirgon  1 , Gonca Sandal, Cem Gökçen, Hüseyin Bilgin, Bumin Dündar
Affiliations

Social anxiety, depression and self-esteem in obese adolescent girls with acanthosis nigricans

Özgür Pirgon et al. J Clin Res Pediatr Endocrinol. 2015 Mar.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the impact of acanthosis nigricans (AN) on depression symptoms, related quality of life and self-esteem scores in obese adolescent girls.

Methods: Fifty-nine obese adolescent girls (mean age: 13.19±1.3 years, age range: 12-17 years, mean body mass index: 29.89±3.30) were enrolled in this study. The obese adolescent girls were divided into two groups based on presence or absence of AN. Non-obese healthy adolescents constituted the control group (30 girls, mean age: 13.5±1.4 years). All subjects were evaluated using the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAI-C), and the modified Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES). Higher scores indicated more severe depression and anxiety, as well as low self-esteem status.

Results: The AN and non-AN obese groups showed significantly higher CDI, STAI-C and SES scores than the control group, and the two obese groups demonstrated no significant differences for these scores. The AN obese group with higher total testosterone levels (>50 ng/dL) had higher scores for SES (2.55±1.8 vs. 1.42±1.2; p=0.03) than the AN obese group with low total testosterone levels. SES scores significantly correlated with total testosterone levels (r=0.362; p=0.03) and fasting insulin (r=0.462; p=0.03) in the AN obese group.

Conclusion: Higher SES scores (low self-esteem status) were determined in obese adolescents with acanthosis and were related to hyperandrogenism. This study also showed that a high testosterone level may be one of the important indicators of low self-esteem status in obese girls with AN.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The classification of the subjects
Figure 2
Figure 2. Comparison of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale scores in obese girls with acanthosis according to total testosterone levels
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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