Obesity increases the risk of depression in children and adolescents: Results from a systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders Vol. 267; pp. 78 - 85
• Main Authors: Rao, Wen-Wang, Zong, Qian-Qian, Zhang, Ji-Wen, An, Feng-Rong, Jackson, Todd, Ungvari, Gabor S., Xiang, Yifan, Su, Ying-Ying, D'Arcy, Carl, Xiang, Yu-Tao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 15.04.2020
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Child; Depression; Depressive Disorder, Major - epidemiology; Humans; Obesity; Overweight; Overweight - epidemiology; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; Prevalence; Systematic review; Obesity; Depression; Systematic review; Adolescents; Overweight
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.01.154

•The prevalence of MDD in children and adolescents with obesity and overweight has been previously examined with mixed findings.•Compared to healthy controls, obese (OR = 1.851, 95% CI: 1.410–2.429; I2 = 0) but not overweight (OR = 1.068, 95% CI: 0.889–1.283; I2 = 15.4%) children and adolescents were more likely to have MDD.•Regular screening and effective interventions should be urgently implemented for obese children and adolescents. Clinical depression (including major depression, dysthymia, and unspecified depression) is common in children and adolescents with obesity and overweight. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine prevalence of clinical depression among overweight and obese children. PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Medline, Cochrane library, and PsycINFO databases were systematically and independently searched by three researchers from the inception dates to April 01, 2019. The fixed-effects model was used to perform meta-analysis. Data analyses were performed with STATA Version 12.0. Eleven studies with 69,893 subjects were included; 5 studies examined major depressive disorder (MDD), while the remaining 6 studies examined other types of clinical depression. In the overweight and obese group, the prevalence of clinical depression ranged from 1.7% to 26.7% in obese subjects and from 4.0% to 16.9% in overweight subjects. In studies on MDD, prevalence ranged from 10.1% to 26.7% in obese subjects and from 9.0% to 16.9% in overweight subjects. The odd ratios (ORs) of clinical depression ranged from 0.92 to 4.39 between obese subjects and healthy controls (i.e., normal-weight controls), and ranged from 0.96 to 1.67 between overweight subjects and controls. Compared to healthy controls, obese (OR = 1.851, 95% CI: 1.410–2.429) but not overweight (OR = 1.068, 95% CI: 0.889–1.283) children and adolescents were more likely to have MDD. Obese children and adolescents had a significantly higher risk for MDD compared with healthy controls. Considering the negative health outcomes of depression, regular screening and effective treatments should be implemented for obese children and adolescents.