ADHD and overweight in boys: cross-sectional study with birth weight as a controlled factor

Tomasz Hanć,Monika Dmitrzak-Węglarz,Agnieszka Słopień,Joachim Cieślik,Magdalena Durda,Joanna Ratajczak,Tomasz Wolańczyk,Zbigniew Czapla,Anita Szwed

doi:10.1007/s00787-014-0531-1

Abstract

Population studies indicate a strong relationship between birth weight (BW) and body size in later life. However, BW as a variable was never accounted for in studies on the relationship between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and overweight. This study aims to assess the relationship between ADHD and overweight with control of birth weight and other confounding factors. Prevalence of overweight was compared in clinical sample of 219 boys with ADHD and 396 boys without ADHD, aged 6–18 years. The following factors were controlled: BW, parents income and education level, place of residence, ADHD type, selected comorbid disorders and stimulant treatment. Overweight and obesity were diagnosed according to the criteria proposed by the International Obesity Task Force. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between ADHD and the prevalence of overweight and obesity. Boys with ADHD differed significantly from the control group in distribution of low BW (8.2 vs. 3.0 %, χ 2 = 8.23, p = 0.02). Low BW was associated with a lower prevalence of overweight than normal and high BW (0 vs. 12.14 %, χ 2 = 4.12, p = 0.04). Overweight was observed significantly more often in boys with ADHD (17.3 vs. 8.3 %, χ 2 = 11.23, p < 0.001) even after adjustment for BW and other variables (OR = 2.44, 95 % CI 1.38–4.29, p = 0.002) and after controlling for ADHD type, stimulant treatment and selected comorbid disorders. Independently to applied analysis, obesity was not associated with ADHD. Lower birth weight is over twice more often observed in boys with ADHD than in control group. Although this phenomenon may reduce the rate of overweight in the studied group, ADHD remains strongly associated with increased prevalence of overweight.

Highlights

Increasing attention has been devoted to comorbidity between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and overweight/obesity in the last few years
We evaluated an association between attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a single factor and prevalence of overweight in the subgroup selected with inclusion criteria: normal or high birth weight, average income level, family with one parent with higher education, place of residence in large cities, not taking stimulants at the time of the research and without associated oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder
This research assessed the relationship between ADHD and overweight/obesity in children and adolescents with control of birth weight and socioeconomic status, treatment status, ADHD type, selected comorbid disorders and

Summary

Introduction

Increasing attention has been devoted to comorbidity between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and overweight/obesity in the last few years. Studies suggest that ADHD may be a risk factor of excess body weight [1,2,3]. A higher percentage of overweight and/or obesity was noted in children and adolescents with ADHD [5, 10,11,12,13]. The association between ADHD and overweight/obesity in children or adolescents has been demonstrated both in clinical [4,5,6, 8, 11, 13,14,15,16,17] and epidemiological studies [7, 10, 12, 18,19,20].

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