Association of maternal psychological distress with children with overweight/obesity in Ethiopia.
Sibhatu Biadgilign, Tennyson Mgutshini, Amare Deribew and 2 others
PMID 36073145WHAT IT FOUND
Maternal psychological distress was not associated with childhood overweight or obesity after adjusting for factors like maternal BMI and income.
Initial unadjusted links disappeared, suggesting distress alone is not a primary driver of weight status in this population.
Key findings
01After adjusting for confounders including maternal BMI and household income, maternal psychological distress was not associated with children's overweight or obesity status.
02The prevalence of maternal mental distress was 10.1%, while the prevalence of children with overweight or obesity was 28.8%.
03The study concludes that interventions for children with overweight or obesity should focus on other factors rather than maternal psychological distress.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The cross-sectional design prevents determining cause and effect; it cannot confirm whether distress precedes weight changes or vice versa. Maternal mental distress was assessed via self-report, which is subject to recall bias. The study did not use retrospective data on early life factors, which may be important determinants of childhood obesity. The prevalence of maternal mental distress was low (10.1%), which may limit the ability to detect an association if one exists.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that treating maternal depression will reduce childhood obesity based on this study. The association disappeared after adjusting for maternal BMI and socioeconomic factors, suggesting other variables are more directly linked to the child's weight status in this context.