Abstract
Obesity, overweight and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remain serious public health problems. Although lots of studies have recently explored the association among obesity, overweight and ASD, the findings are inconsistent. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis of epidemiological studies to examine the association among obesity, overweight and ASD. PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were used for literature searches to identify eligible studies published in English before November 15, 2016. Relevant studies estimating the association among obesity, overweight and ASD were included. Fifteen studies encompassing 49,937,078 participants and 1,045,538 individuals with ASD were included in this study. A random effects model was chosen to synthesize the effect sizes of individual studies. The prevalence of obesity was significantly higher in individuals with ASD than in controls (OR = 1.84, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.37–2.48, P < 0.001). However, the prevalence of overweight in individuals with ASD was not significantly different from that in controls (OR = 1.07, 95% CI: 0.83–1.38, P = 0.62). Both sensitivity analysis and publication bias testing revealed that the findings were robust. The meta-analysis showed a significant association between obesity and ASD. However, no significant association was identified between overweight and ASD.
Highlights
Scientists have reported that obesity and overweight are more likely to be related to psychiatric disorders in children, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder (ASD)[9,10]
The results showed that obesity but not overweight was associated with ASD
Individuals with ASD have more chances to be treated with various antipsychotic medications, which are known to be associated with weight gain[40,41]
Summary
Scientists have reported that obesity and overweight are more likely to be related to psychiatric disorders in children, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder (ASD)[9,10]. ASD is a complex and heterogeneous disorder that is due to the interaction effect between genetic vulnerability and environmental factors. Since ASD is a serious public health problem, scientists have attempted to identify biomarkers to achieve an earlier diagnosis and enable earlier treatment. We and other researchers have shown that biomarkers such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor and glutamate are sensitive markers for the early diagnosis of ASD and bipolar disorder[16,17,18,19]. ASD is a significant global public health problem. Some studies have focused on the association among obesity, overweight and ASD9,24–26. We believe that a comprehensive evaluation of this critical public health problem may promote efforts to develop adequate interventional strategies in this population
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