Evaluation of association between childhood obesity and depression: A systematic literature review
Abstract
Obesity has become a major public health concern throughout the world. Both developing as well as developed countries have been facing the consequences of obesity. [1, 2] According to World Health Organization, worldwide prevalence of overweight among adults was 1.6 billion and that of obesity was 400 million by the end of year 2005. At the same time, around 20 million children of less than 5 years of age were overweight worldwide. [3] From amongst the obese children, around 15% of children manifest symptoms of depression before 18 years of age as compared to non-obese children of the same age group. Approximately 3-5% of these obese individuals develop major depressive disorders (MDD). [4, 5] The incidence of depression increases markedly as the child reaches puberty. The risk of persistent depression in childhood as well as in adulthood is two to four times higher if the child is obese as compared to those depressed adult individuals who are not obese in their childhood. [6, 7] This paper will review the scientific literature concerning the association between childhood obesity and depression.
Subject Area
Public health|Epidemiology
Recommended Citation
Yagnik, Priyank J, "Evaluation of association between childhood obesity and depression: A systematic literature review" (2009). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). AAI1467469.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/dissertations/AAI1467469