title: Social anxiety, depression and self-esteem in obese adolescent girls with acanthosis nigricans.
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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors: Süleyman Demirel University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Isparta, Turkey. E-mail: ozgurpirgon@gmail.com.
authors: Özgür
authors: Ö
authors: Pirgon
authors: Gonca
authors: G
authors: Sandal
authors: Cem
authors: C
authors: Gökçen
authors: Hüseyin
authors: H
authors: Bilgin
authors: Bumin
authors: B
authors: Dündar
mesh_terms: D000052:Acanthosis Nigricans / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D011379:Prognosis; D011788:Quality of Life; D012649:Self Concept