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ADHD in childhood predicts BMI and body composition measurements over time in a population-based birth cohort

International Journal of Obesity volume 46, pages 1204–1211 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives

Obesity has been reported as an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comorbidity. So far, few studies have aimed to explore the potential causal relationship between ADHD and obesity, as well as used other measures of body composition like fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) as measures of obesity. This study aimed to test the association between ADHD and body composition (body mass index [BMI] and others) and to evaluate the potential causal relationship with obesity.

Subjects/Methods

Data from the 1993 Pelotas (Brazil) birth cohort at age 11-, 15-, 18-, and 22-year follow-up was used. We performed a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) analysis between ADHD symptoms and BMI to explore the causal relationship between both traits. Finally, we tested whether ADHD, inattention, and hyperactivity symptom scales were associated with BMI, FM, and FFM at 22 years.

Results

In the CLPM, higher ADHD scores at age 11 predicted higher BMI at age 15 (β = 0.055, 95% CI [0.037; 0.073]). ADHD symptoms at age 11 was also associated with a decrease in the FFM (β = −0.16, 95% CI [−0.28; −0.05]), and an increase in the BMI (β = 0.17, 95% CI [0.10; 0.23]) and FM (β = 0.17, 95% CI [0.06; 0.29]) at 22 years. At 22 years of age, ADHD was associated with FFM and FM. Moreover, an increase in BMI was observed with an increase in several symptoms of ADHD in general (β = 0.06, 95% CI [0.004; 0.12]), and hyperactivity symptoms (β = 0.15, 95% CI [0.05; 0.25]).

Conclusion

ADHD at 11 years predicted a higher BMI at 15 years, and body fat composition in adulthood, suggesting higher scores on ADHD symptoms in early life may be a critical point for body composition in early adulthood. The hyperactivity symptoms may play an important role in the BMI increase.

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Fig. 1: Effect size (beta coefficient) of the bidirectional association tests between ADHD symptoms and body mass index estimated by cross-lagged panel models among participants in the 1993 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

    Thais Martins-Silva, Juliana dos Santos Vaz, Marina Xavier Carpena, Christian Loret de Mola, Fernando Barros, Ana Maria Baptista Menezes, Helen Gonçalves, Fernando C. Wehrmeister & Luciana Tovo-Rodrigues

  2. Faculty of Nutrition, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

    Juliana dos Santos Vaz

  3. National Institute of Developmental Psychiatry for Children and Adolescents (INPD), São Paulo, Brazil

    Julia Luiza Schäfer, Giovanni Abrahão Salum & Luis Augusto Rohde

  4. ADHD Outpatient Program & Developmental Psychiatry Program, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Julia Luiza Schäfer, Giovanni Abrahão Salum, Eduardo Schneider Vitola, Vitor Breda, Eugênio Horacio Grevet & Luis Augusto Rohde

  5. Postgraduate Program in Public Health, Universidade Federal de Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Brazil

    Christian Loret de Mola

  6. Universidad Cientifica del Sur, Lima, Peru

    Christian Loret de Mola

  7. Grupo de Pesquisa e Inovação em Saúde (GPIS), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Brazil

    Christian Loret de Mola

  8. Post-graduate Program in Health and Behavior, Catholic University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil

    Fernando Barros

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  1. Thais Martins-Silva
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Contributions

TM-S, JSV, JLS, and LT-R conceived the work. TM-S, JSV, and LT-R conducted the analyses. TM-S and LT-R drafted the first version of the manuscript. GAS, MXC, ESV, VB, EHG, CLdM, FB, AMBM, HG, FCW, and LAR revised the manuscript critically and contributed with interpretation of the findings. All authors gave final approval of the version to be published.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thais Martins-Silva.

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Competing interests

LAR has received grant or research support from, served as a consultant to, and served on the speakers’ bureau of Aché, Bial, Medice, Novartis/Sandoz, Pfizer/Upjohn, and Shire/Takeda in the last 3 years. The ADHD and Juvenile Bipolar Disorder Outpatient Programs chaired by LAR have received unrestricted educational and research support from the following pharmaceutical companies in the last 3 years: Novartis/Sandoz and Shire/Takeda. LAR has received authorship royalties from Oxford Press and ArtMed. All other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Martins-Silva, T., dos Santos Vaz, J., Schäfer, J.L. et al. ADHD in childhood predicts BMI and body composition measurements over time in a population-based birth cohort. Int J Obes 46, 1204–1211 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-022-01098-z

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