TY - JOUR AB - OBJECTIVES: To compare the odds of depression in obese and overweight children with that in normal-weight children in the community. DESIGN: Systematic review and random-effect meta-analysis of observational studies. DATA SOURCES: EMBASE, PubMed and PsychINFO electronic databases, published between January 2000 and January 2017. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Cross-sectional or longitudinal observational studies that recruited children (aged <18 years) drawn from the community who had their weight status classified by body mass index, using age-adjusted and sex-adjusted reference charts or the International Obesity Task Force age-sex specific cut-offs, and concurrent or prospective odds of depression were measured. RESULTS: Twenty-two studies representing 143 603 children were included in the meta-analysis. Prevalence of depression among obese children was 10.4%. Compared with normal-weight children, odds of depression were 1.32 higher (95% CI 1.17 to 1.50) in obese children. Among obese female children, odds of depression were 1.44 (95% CI 1.20 to 1.72) higher compared with that of normal-weight female children. No association was found between overweight children and depression (OR 1.04, 95% CI 0.95 to 1.14) or among obese or overweight male subgroups and depression (OR 1.14, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.41% and 1.08, 95% CI 0.85 to 1.37, respectively). Subgroup analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies separately revealed childhood obesity was associated with both concurrent (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.45) and prospective odds (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.21 to 1.88) of depression. CONCLUSION: We found strong evidence that obese female children have a significantly higher odds of depression compared with normal-weight female children, and this risk persists into adulthood. Clinicians should consider screening obese female children for symptoms of depression. BACKGROUND: Childhood mental illness is poorly recognised by AU - Sutaria,S AU - Devakumar,D AU - Yasuda,SS AU - Das,S AU - Saxena,S DO - 10.1136/archdischild-2017-314608 EP - 74 PY - 2018/// SN - 1468-2044 SP - 64 TI - Is obesity associated with depression in children? Systematic review and meta-analysis T2 - Archives of Disease in Childhood UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2017-314608 UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29959128 UR - https://adc.bmj.com/content/104/1/64 UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/61669 VL - 104 ER -