Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 1/2017

01-01-2017 | Original Contribution

Psychosocial risk factors underlie the link between attention deficit hyperactivity symptoms and overweight at school entry

Authors: Ursula Pauli-Pott, Alexander Reinhardt, Elena Bagus, Birgit Wollenberg, Andrea Schroer, Monika Heinzel-Gutenbrunner, Katja Becker

Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry | Issue 1/2017

Login to get access

Abstract

The link between symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and increased body weight is well established, while the underlying mechanisms are not yet clear. Since increased body weight and ADHD symptoms have been found to be associated with psychosocial risk factors in childhood, we analyzed whether the psychosocial risks explain the association between the two conditions. The sample consisted of 360 children (age range 6–7 years, 173 boys) attending the obligatory medical health exam before school entry. The childrens’ height and weight were measured during the examination. ADHD symptoms were ascertained by parent-report questionnaires. Psychosocial risks were ascertained by a structured interview. The link between ADHD symptoms and body weight could be completely explained by cumulative psychosocial risks while controlling for gender, symptoms of depression/anxiety and oppositional defiant disorder of the child, maternal smoking during pregnancy, parental body mass index, and potential diagnosis of ADHD in the parents. In current models pertaining to the etiology of overweight/obesity and ADHD, chronic stress caused by psychosocial adversity is assumed to act as a trigger for these conditions. Psychosocial risks experienced during childhood may activate processes that specifically lead to the combined ADHD-overweight phenotype.
Literature
1.
Cortese S, Moreira-Maia CR, St Fleur D, Morcillo-Penalver C, Rohde LA, Faraone SV (2016) Association between ADHD and obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Psychiatry 173(1):34–43CrossRefPubMed
2.
de Zwaan M, Gruss B, Muller A, Philipsen A, Graap H, Martin A, Glaesmer H, Hilbert A (2011) Association between obesity and adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in a German community-based sample. Obes Facts 4(3):204–211CrossRefPubMed
3.
Erhart M, Herpertz-Dahlmann B, Wille N, Sawitzky-Rose B, Holling H, Ravens-Sieberer U (2012) Examining the relationship between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and overweight in children and adolescents. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 21(1):39–49CrossRefPubMed
4.
Fuemmeler BF, Ostbye T, Yang C, McClernon FJ, Kollins SH (2010) Association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and obesity and hypertension in early adulthood: a population-based study. Int J Obes 35(6):852–862CrossRef
5.
Lam LT, Yang L (2007) Overweight/obesity and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder tendency among adolescents in China. Int J Obes 31:584–590
6.
Waring E, Lapane KL (2008) Overweight in children and adolescents in relation to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: results from a national sample. Pediatrics 122(1):e1–e6CrossRefPubMed
7.
Puder JJ, Munsch S (2010) Psychological correlates of childhood obesity. Int J Obes (Lond) 34(Suppl 2):S37–S43CrossRef
8.
Davis CR, Levitan RD, Smith M, Tweed S, Curtis C (2006) Associations among overeating, overweight, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a structural equation modelling approach. Eat Behav 7:266–274CrossRefPubMed
9.
Owens J, Gruber R, Brown T, Corkum P, Cortese S, O’Brien L, Stein M, Weiss M (2013) Future research directions in sleep and ADHD: report of a consensus working group. J Atten Disord 17(7):550–564CrossRefPubMed
10.
11.
Biederman J (2005) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a selective overview. Biol Psychiatry 57(11):1215–1220CrossRefPubMed
12.
Biederman J, Faraone SV, Monuteaux MC (2002) Differential effect of environmental adversity by gender: Rutter’s index of adversity in a group of boys and girls with and without ADHD. Am J Psychiatry 158:1556–1562CrossRef
13.
Biederman J, Milberger S, Faraone SV, Kiely K, Guite J, Mick E, Ablon S, Warburton R, Reed E (1995) Family-environment risk factors for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. A test of Rutter’s indicators of adversity. Arch Gen Psychiatry 52(6):464–470CrossRefPubMed
14.
Nigg JT, Nikolas M, Burt SA (2010) Measured gene-by-environment interaction in relation to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 49(9):863–873CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
15.
Lamerz A, Kuepper-Nybelen J, Wehle C, Bruning N, Trost-Brinkhues G, Brenner H, Hebebrand J, Herpertz-Dahlmann B (2005) Social class, parental education, and obesity prevalence in a study of six-year old children in Germany. Int J Obes 29:373–380CrossRef
16.
Wijlaars LP, Johnson L, van Jaarsveld CH, Wardle J (2011) Socioeconomic status and weight gain in early infancy. Int J Obes (Lond) 35(7):963–970CrossRef
17.
Davis CR, Dearing E, Usher N, Trifiletti S, Zaichenko L, Ollen E, Brinkoetter MT, Crowell-Doom C, Joung K, Park KH, Mantzoros CS, Crowell JA (2014) Detailed assessments of childhood adversity enhance prediction of central obesity independent of gender, race, adult psychosocial risk and health behaviors. Metabolism 63(2):199–206CrossRefPubMed
18.
Sobal J, Stunkard AJ (1989) Socioeconomic status and obesity: a review of the literature. Psychol Bull 105(2):260–275CrossRefPubMed
19.
Chen AY, Escarce JJ (2010) Family structure and childhood obesity, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort. Prev Chron Dis 7(3):A50
20.
Boynton-Jarrett R, Fargnoli J, Suglia SF, Zuckerman B, Wright RJ (2010) Association between maternal intimate partner violence and incident obesity in preschool-aged children: results from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 164(6):540–546CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
21.
22.
Wells NM, Evans GW, Beavis A, Ong AD (2010) Early childhood poverty, cumulative risk exposure, and body mass index trajectories through young adulthood. Am J Public Health 100(12):2507–2512CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
23.
Hanc T, Janicka K, Durda M, Cieslik J (2014) An association between adverse events, anxiety and body size of adolescents. J Biosoc Sci 46(1):122–138PubMed
24.
Döpfner M, Görtz-Dorten A, Lehmkuhl G (2008) DISYPS-II Diagnostik-System für psychische Störungen nach ICD-10 und DSM-IV für Kinder und Jugendliche - II. Huber, Bern
25.
Woerner W, Becker A, Friedrich C, Klasen H, Goodman R, Rothenberger A (2002) Normierung und Evaluation der deutschen Elternversion des Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ): Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Felderhebung. Z Kinder Jugendpsychiatrie Psychother 30(2):105–112CrossRef
26.
Breuer D, Dopfner M (2008) Development of a questionnaire for the assessment of attention-deficit-/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in preschoolers by parents and/or teacher ratings. Z Entwickl Padagogis 40(1):40–48
27.
Koglin U, Barquero B, Mayer H, Scheithauer H, Petermann F (2007) Deutsche Version des Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-Deu). Diagnostica 53(4):175–183CrossRef
28.
Huss M, Holling H, Kurth BM, Schlack R (2008) How often are German children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD? Prevalence based on the judgment of health care professionals: results of the German health and examination survey (KiGGS). Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 17(Suppl 1):52–58CrossRefPubMed
29.
Egger HL, Angold A (2006) Common emotional and behavioral disorders in preschool children: presentation, nosology, and epidemiology. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 47(3–4):313–337CrossRefPubMed
30.
Coghill D, Sonuga-Barke EJ (2012) Annual research review: categories versus dimensions in the classification and conceptualisation of child and adolescent mental disorders–implications of recent empirical study. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 53(5):469–489CrossRefPubMed
31.
Kromeyer-Hauschild K, Wabitsch M, Kunze D, Geller D, Geiss HC, Hesse V, von Hippel A, Jaeger U, Johnsen D, Korte W, Menner K, Muller G, Muller JM, Niemann-Pilatus A, Remer T, Schaefer F, Wittchen HU, Zabransky S, Zellner K, Ziegler A, Hebebrand J (2001) Percentiles of body mass index in children and adolescents evaluated from different regional German studies. Monatsschr Kinderheilk 149(8):807–818CrossRef
32.
Cole TJ (1990) The LMS method for constructing normalized growth standards. Eur J Clin Nutr 44:45–60PubMed
33.
Laucht M, Skowronck MH, Becker K, Schmidt MH, Esser G, Schulze TG, Rietschel M (2007) Interacting effects of dopamine transporter gene and psychosocial adversity on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms among 15-year-olds from a high-risk community sample. Arch Gen Psychiatry 64:585–590CrossRefPubMed
34.
Pauli-Pott U, Neidhard J, Heinzel-Gutenbrunner M, Becker K (2014) On the link between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and obesity: do comorbid oppositional defiant and conduct disorder matter? Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 23(7):531–537CrossRefPubMed
35.
Preacher KJ, Hayes AF (2008) Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behav Res Methods 40(3):879–891CrossRefPubMed
36.
37.
Anderson SE, Gooze RA, Lemeshow S, Whitaker RC (2012) Quality of early maternal-child relationship and risk of adolescent obesity. Pediatrics 129(1):132–140CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
38.
Faraone SV, Asherson P, Banaschewski T, Biederman J, Buitelaar J, Ramos-Quiroga JA, Rohde LA, Sonuga-Barke EJ, Tannock R, Franke B (2015) Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Nat Rev Dis Prim 1:15020. doi:10.​1038/​nrdp.​2015.​20 CrossRefPubMed
39.
Cummings EM, Davies PT (2011) Marital conflict and children: an emotional security perspective. Guilford Publications, New York
40.
Davies PT, Cummings EM (1994) Marital conflict and child adjustment—an emotional security hypothesis. Psychol Bul 116(3):387–411CrossRef
41.
Cortese S, Konofal E, Dalla Bernardina B, Mouren MC, Lecendreux M (2008) Does excessive daytime sleepiness contribute to explaining the association between obesity and ADHD symptoms? Med Hypotheses 70(1):12–16CrossRefPubMed
42.
Cortese S, Angriman M (2014) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, iron deficiency, and obesity: is there a link? Postgrad Med 126(4):155–170CrossRefPubMed
43.
Hanc T, Slopien A, Wolanczyk T, Dmitrzak-Weglarz M, Szwed A, Czapla Z, Durda M, Ratajczak J, Cieslik J (2015) ADHD and overweight in boys: cross-sectional study with birth weight as a controlled factor. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 24(1):41–53CrossRefPubMed
44.
Cortese S, Morcillo Penalver C (2010) Comorbidity between ADHD and obesity: exploring shared mechanisms and clinical implications. Postgrad Med 122(5):88–96CrossRefPubMed
45.
Thapar A, Langley K, O’Donovan M, Owen M (2006) Refining the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder phenotype for molecular genetic studies. Mol Psychiatry 11(8):714–720CrossRefPubMed
46.
Cortese S, Castellanos FX (2014) The relationship between ADHD and obesity: implications for therapy. Exp rev Neurotherapeut 14(5):473–479CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Psychosocial risk factors underlie the link between attention deficit hyperactivity symptoms and overweight at school entry
Authors
Ursula Pauli-Pott
Alexander Reinhardt
Elena Bagus
Birgit Wollenberg
Andrea Schroer
Monika Heinzel-Gutenbrunner
Katja Becker
Publication date
01-01-2017
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry / Issue 1/2017
Print ISSN: 1018-8827
Electronic ISSN: 1435-165X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0870-1

Other articles of this Issue 1/2017

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 1/2017 Go to the issue

Original Contribution

An initial study of family accommodation in children and adolescents with chronic tic disorders

Original Contribution

Examination of the importance of age of onset, callous-unemotional traits and anger dysregulation in youths with antisocial behaviors

Original Contribution

“Did I bring it on myself?” An exploratory study of the beliefs that adolescents referred to mental health services have about the causes of their depression

Original Contribution

Defining cognitive-behavior therapy response and remission in pediatric OCD: a signal detection analysis of the Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale

Original Contribution

The effects of antipsychotics on weight gain, weight-related hormones and homocysteine in children and adolescents: a 1-year follow-up study

Review

Evidence-based treatments for youths with severely dysregulated mood: a qualitative systematic review of trials for SMD and DMDD