Autism Spectrum Disorder and Obesity in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) appear to be at greater risk of excess weight gain. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine whether children with ASD have a greater prevalence of obesity and whether the prevalence of ASD is higher in children with obesity.

Methods

We conducted a systematic search on PubMed, Scopus, and PsychINFO until May 21, 2021. We used the meta package in the R in order to calculate the pooled prevalence and relative risk of obesity in children with ASD.

Results

We found 20 eligible studies investigating the prevalence of obesity in children with ASD, with the prevalence ranging from 7.9 to 31.8% and from 1.4 to 23.6% among controls. All but three studies originated from the USA.

SUBMITTER: Sammels O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9210004 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature