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.

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. 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. 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, 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.