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

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: = 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.