SCIENTIFIC EVOLUTION AND GLOBAL TRENDS IN THE STUDY OF MORBID OBESITY AND MENTAL HEALTH INTERCONNECTIONS

Authors:

Abstract:

The purpose of the study was to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the world catalogue of scientific literature, which was indexed in leading scientific databases in order to identify the time dynamics of the issue, its structure, and the most common research vectors of the comorbidity of morbid obesity and affective pathology. The quantitative and structural-analytical method was chosen and a specialised search query used that combined terms relevant to severe obesity and anxiety-depressive disorders. The year of publication, type of document, industry membership, geographic and institutional distribution and funding profiles were reviewed. The findings showed a steady interest increase to this scientific field and that original clinical studies and systematic reviews were the most common. The United States and Chinese research centres were the most productive contributors in terms of the number of publications, which is based on the globalisation of interdisciplinary enquiry in the fields of bariatric medicine and psychiatry. The thematic distribution validates the collaboration of the clinical, neurobiological, and immunometabolic approaches. According to a synthesis of existing research, there is a bidirectional pathophysiological connection between morbid obesity and anxiety-depressive disorders, with the key roles being played by chronic low-grade inflammation, neuroinflammation, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation, insulin resistance, and neuroplasticity losses. The tendency of linking the severity of obesity to psychological distress proves the importance of including psychiatric screening into the management regimes of the severely obese patients. These findings support the development of this field as an independent interdisciplinary area and shed light on the opportunities to create individualized treatment approaches in consideration of immunometabolic phenotype and the impact of chronic stress.

Keywords:

morbid obesity anxiety-depressive disorders neuroinflammation psychological distress immunometabolic dysfunction

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Publication:

«World of Medicine and Biology» Vol. 22 No. 1 (2026) , с. 247-254
УДК 616-056.257:616.895

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26724/2079-8334-2026-1-95-247-254