Association Between Overweight/Obesity With Depression, Anxiety, Low Self-Esteem, and Body Dissatisfaction in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies Publisher Pubmed



Moradi M¹ ; Mozaffari H^{2, 3} ; Askari M² ; Azadbakht L^{1, 2, 4}
Source: Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition Published:2021

Abstract

Purpose: Childhood and Adolescent overweight and obesity may be associated with psychological problems. We aimed to conduct a systematic review and summarize published articles on the association between overweight/obesity with risk of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and body dissatisfaction among children and adolescents. Methods: PubMed and Scopus databases were used to conduct a comprehensive search and identify eligible literature published prior to July 2020. The random-effects models (DerSimonian–Laird method) were applied to pool the effect sizes. Subgroup analysis was performed to find potential sources of heterogeneity. Results: 28 studies (3 prospective cohorts and 25 cross-sectional) were included in the current systematic review and meta-analysis. The total sample sizes ranged from 244 to 60252. A positive significant association was found between overweight (pooled risk estimate: 1.15, 95% CI: 1.00–1.31, P = 0.04) and obesity (pooled risk estimate: 1.53, 95% CI: 1.16–2.02, P = 0.003) with risk of low self-esteem, respectively. A significant positive association was found between obesity and risk of body dissatisfaction (pooled risk estimate: 4.05, 95% CI: 2.34–7.023, P = 0.0001). Moreover, no association was found between overweight and risk of body dissatisfaction among children and adolescents. Also, no association was observed between overweight/obesity and risk of depression and anxiety. Conclusions: Findings showed a positive association between obesity and the risk of body dissatisfaction and low self-esteem among children and adolescents. Moreover, there was a significant positive association between overweight and the risk of low self-esteem. © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.