Mental Health and Obesity in Pediatric Primary Care

The association between maltreatment and obesity among preschool children

“…Child maltreatment is already well-established as a precursor of several mental health disorders, particularly mood and anxiety disorders (Kessler, Davis, & Kendler, 1997). Together these findings support other evidence that poor mental health and obesity, which are common, costly, and difficult to treat, are also related to each other (Faith, Matz, & Jorge, 2002;Whitaker, 2004a). If it can be established that child maltreatment is a modifiable risk factor that is shared by these chronic adult conditions, this might lead to the development of new obesity prevention strategies-ones that begin very early in life, include efforts not solely focused on diet and activity, and prevent more than obesity.…”

Family–health professional relations in pediatric weight management: an integrative review

“…The importance of health professionals remaining non‐judgmental during weight‐related discussions with families was emphasized across multiple publications . Central to these articles was the need for health professionals to avoid blame, guilt and stigmatization during family discussions and to focus on being supportive, empathic, diplomatic and keeping children's best interests in mind . However, studies that explored parents' weight management care experiences for their children revealed negative encounters with health professionals.…”

Association of anxiety with body mass index (BMI) and waist to hip ratio (WHR) in medical students

“…Obesity and depression are each complex multifactorial conditions that often have roots in childhood and are influenced by genetics as well as family, social, and environmental context. [10] Multiple social, demographic, behavioral, and academic factors have although the females had a greater percentage as compared to males for severe anxiety during the examination period. Kharche et al [13] demonstrated no statistically significant difference in anxiety scores of overweight and normal weight young adults.…”