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

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.

Keywords:

• Anxiety
• depression
• self-esteem
• body dissatisfaction
• obesity

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest

Additional information

Funding

The present systematic review and meta-analysis was supported by Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services (grant number: 99-2-212-49953)