Pediatric Research Update: Examining Associations Between Obesity and Mental Health Disorders From Childhood to Adolescence

Each month, the OMA Pediatric Committee reviews a pediatric-focused obesity research update to help keep you up to date about the latest findings. This month’s pediatric research update highlights a five-year study linking childhood obesity to increased risk of mental health disorders in adolescence. Findings emphasize the need for early, multidisciplinary care that addresses both physical and psychological health.

Article Summary

This article found that obesity in childhood is significantly associated with later development of mental health disorders in adolescence, highlighting the importance of early intervention to address both physical and psychological health.

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Article Review

Mental health and the disease of obesity are bidirectional issues. When and how they intertwine is an area that needs more study. Garrayo, et al, in their paper “Beltrán-Garrayo L, Solar M, Blanco M, Graell M, Sepúlveda AR. Examining associations between obesity and mental health disorders from childhood to adolescence: A case-control prospective study. Psychiatry Res. 2023 Aug;326:115296. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115296. Epub 2023 Jun 14. PMID: 37331070” take a somewhat unique look at this subject and propose some interesting conclusions.

Theirs is a prospective study looking over 5 years at a group with normal weight and a group with preexisting obesity who had not sought treatment . Ages at entrance to the study ranged from 8-13 years old and thus ages at the end of the study ranged from 13-18 years old. They describe this as from “childhood to adolescence”. They do not mention whether any in the normal weight group developed obesity during the study. They also do not mention whether any in the group with obesity sought treatment during the study or had spontaneous remission of the disease during the study. They had fairly good retention in both groups over the 5 years - 34/50 in the group with obesity and 37/50 in the group with normal weight. They looked at depression, anxiety, eating symptoms, self esteem, and perceived teasing in the children and depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and family functioning in the caregivers.

In their results they found the rate of mental health issues went from 8.1% to 16.2% in the group with normal weight and held steady at 61.8 % in the group with obesity. Interestingly the most common diagnosis in the group with obesity at entrance to the study (during childhood) was anxiety and at the end of the study (during adolescence) was eating disorders.

The authors proposed that the strengths of their study were that it was prospective and that the group with obesity was not receiving treatment. They acknowledge the limitations of their study were the small sample size, that participants came from different populations, and that they had different raters at the beginning and end of the study.

Their conclusions were that the group with obesity had higher rates of psychological stress at the beginning and end of the study and that the group with obesity experienced higher rates of weight-related teasing at the beginning and end of the study, which was associated with lower body esteem and poorer mental health. Their recommendations were that the treatment of children with obesity utilize a multidisciplinary approach that addresses mental health issues and psychosocial variables.

This study should be reviewed by everyone involved in the treatment of children and adolescents with the disease of obesity due to its unique methodology and thoughtful conclusions.