Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Feb 12;8(2):135.
doi: 10.3390/children8020135.

Obesity in Children and Adolescents during COVID-19 Pandemic

Androniki Stavridou  1 , Evangelia Kapsali  1 , Eleni Panagouli  1 , Athanasios Thirios  1 , Konstantinos Polychronis  1 , Flora Bacopoulou  2 , Theodora Psaltopoulou  1   3 , Maria Tsolia  1 , Theodoros N Sergentanis  1   3 , Artemis Tsitsika  1
Affiliations
Review

Obesity in Children and Adolescents during COVID-19 Pandemic

Androniki Stavridou et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to special circumstances and changes to everyday life due to the worldwide measures that were imposed such as lockdowns. This review aims to evaluate obesity in children, adolescents and young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A literature search was conducted to evaluate pertinent studies up to 10 November 2020.

Results: A total of 15 articles were eligible; 9 identified 17,028,111 children, adolescents and young adults from 5-25 years old, 5 pertained to studies with an age admixture (n = 20,521) and one study included parents with children 5-18 years old (n = 584). During the COVID-19 era, children, adolescents and young adults gained weight. Changes in dietary behaviors, increased food intake and unhealthy food choices including potatoes, meat and sugary drinks were noted during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Food insecurity associated with financial reasons represents another concern. Moreover, as the restrictions imposed reduced movements out of the house, physical activity was limited, representing another risk factor for weight gain.

Conclusions: COVID-19 restrictions disrupted the everyday routine of children, adolescents and young adults and elicited changes in their eating behaviors and physical activity. To protect them, health care providers should highlight the risk of obesity and provide prevention strategies, ensuring also parental participation. Worldwide policies, guidelines and precautionary measures should ideally be established.

Keywords: COVID-19; obesity; weight gain.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Murthy S., Gomersall C.D., Fowler R.A. Care for Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19. JAMA. 2020;323:1499–1500. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.3633. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Helmy Y.A., Fawzy M., Elaswad A., Sobieh A., Kenney S.P., Shehata A.A. The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comprehensive Review of Taxonomy, Genetics, Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Control. J. Clin. Med. 2020;9:1225. doi: 10.3390/jcm9041225. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. WHO Announces COVID-19 Outbreak a Pandemic. [(accessed on 15 December 2020)]; Available online: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus-....
    1. Huizar M.I., Arena R., Laddu D.R. The global food syndemic: The impact of food insecurity, Malnutrition and obesity on the healthspan amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Prog. Cardiovasc. Dis. 2020 doi: 10.1016/j.pcad.2020.07.002. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huizar M.I., Arena R., Laddu D.R. “Covibesity,” a new pandemic. Obes. Med. 2020;19:100282. doi: 10.1016/j.obmed.2020.100282. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources