Weight Gain Associated with COVID-19 Lockdown in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 13; no. 10; p. 3668
• Main Authors: Chang, Tu-Hsuan, Chen, Yu-Chin, Chen, Wei-Yu, Chen, Chun-Yu, Hsu, Wei-Yun, Chou, Yun, Chang, Yi-Hsin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 19.10.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Adolescent; Body Mass Index; body weight changes; Child; childhood obesity; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - prevention & control; COVID-19 infection; Diabetes; Disease transmission; Humans; Lifestyles; Meta-analysis; Obesity; Overweight; pandemic; Pandemics; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; Pediatrics; Population; Quarantine - methods; Restrictions; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Shelter in place; Social Isolation; Systematic review; Teenagers; Weight control; Weight Gain; COVID-19; body weight; lockdown; adolescents; children; BMI
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu13103668

Background: Lockdown is an effective nonpharmaceutical intervention to reduce coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission, but it restricts daily activity. We aimed to investigate the impact of lockdown on pediatric body weight and body mass index (BMI). Methods: The systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement. Four online databases (EMBASE, Medline, the Cochrane Library and CINAHL) were searched. Results: The pooled results showed that lockdown was associated with significant body weight gain (MD 2.67, 95% CI 2.12–3.23; p < 0.00001). The BMI of children with comorbidities or obesity did not change significantly. The BMI of general population was significantly higher during lockdown than before the pandemic (MD 0.94, 95% CI 0.32–1.56; p = 0.003). However, heterogeneity was high (I2 = 84%). Among changes in weight classification, increases in the rates of obesity (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.10–1.37; p = 0.0002) and overweight (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.06–1.29; p = 0.001) were reported. Conclusions: Our meta-analysis showed significant increases in body weight and BMI during lockdown among school-age children and adolescents. The prevalence of obesity and overweight also increased. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the burden of childhood obesity.