Association between Obesity and Childhood Depression in School children of a Family Medicine Unit in Morelia, Michoacán

Abstract

Objective: identify the relation between obesity and child depression in school children from 8 to 12 years of the Family Medicine no. 80, of the Mexican Social Security Institute (imss), in Morelia, Michoacan. Methods: prospective, cross-sectional and observational study, where 165 children were included, of both sexes, with obesity and normal weight to which the Children’s Depression Scale (cds) was applied. The differences in the media were analyzed with the t of Student test for independent samples; the χ2 and logistics regression were used to establish association and risk, respectively. Results: of the 156 children, 78 (47.3%) were obese and 87 (52.7%) non-obese; 91 (55.2%) girls and 74 (44.8%) boys; 34 (20.6%) of all had depression; and from these 22 (64.7%) were obese and 12 (35.3%) non-obese; 25 (70.5%) were girls and 9 (26.5%) boys. Maternal obesity was associated with child obesity (χ2=11.733, p<0.0001); social problems (sp) (χ2=5.100, p=0.019; or=2.380, ic 95% 1.108-5.112, p=0.026) and a low self-esteem (se) (χ2=4.329, p=0.029; or=2.236, ic 95% 1.037-4.823, p=0.040) evaluated with the subscales of the cds, they are associated to child depression. Conclusions: child obesity is associated to the development of depression in children population, and the cds is a useful instrument to identify it. It is required the implementation of special programs or to strengthen the existing ones to prevent and control it.