Proportion of Overweight among Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

BACKGROUND Childhood obesity is now a public health problem worldwide. The need for exploring more neurobiological aspects in eating behaviours and therefore over nourishment early in life becomes imperative. One behavioural disorder of childhood which has an increasing prevalence rate in children is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). With a common neurobiological correlate in both these conditions, it may be assumed that both diseases may have preponderance for mutual inclusivity. We wanted to estimate the proportion of overweight among children diagnosed with ADHD, who attended the Child Psychiatry OPD, Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, for one year. METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted on 110 children who were newly diagnosed with ADHD. Body mass index was assessed in these children and the proportion of subjects who were overweight was obtained. RESULTS The mean age of the study participants was 10.3 + 2.98 years. 90 % of the study subjects were males and 10 % were females. 46 children were over 85th percentile21 (19.1 %) were obese (>97th percentile) and 25 (22.7%) were overweight. 64 children were under the 85th percentile, 55 (50 %) were of normal weight and 9 (8.2 %) were underweight. CONCLUSIONS The proportion of overweight children in a sample of ADHD children was more than the national average of overweight among child and adolescent population. - This shows that children with ADHD symptoms have increased predictability to be overweight. KEY WORDS ADHD, Obesity, Overweight, Childhood, BMI