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. 2025 Mar 10:12:1505491.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1505491. eCollection 2025.

Associations of body roundness index and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption with psychological symptoms in adolescents: a multicenter cross-sectional survey based on Chinese adolescents aged 12-18 years old

Long Chen  1   2 , Wei Zheng  3 , Caiyun Wei  2 , Jiayu Ling  2 , Qingtao Kong  4
Affiliations

Associations of body roundness index and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption with psychological symptoms in adolescents: a multicenter cross-sectional survey based on Chinese adolescents aged 12-18 years old

Long Chen et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: Adolescent psychosocial symptoms continue to rise, negatively affecting academic performance and future achievement, and have become an important public health issue of common concern worldwide. However, few studies have been conducted on the association between body roundness index (BRI) and sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption and psychological symptoms in Chinese adolescents. The present study may provide implications for the intervention and prevention of psychological symptoms in Chinese adolescents.

Methods: In this study, 47,520 adolescents aged 12-18 years from six geographic regions of China were assessed cross-sectionally for BRI, SSB consumption, and psychological symptoms in 2023. Independent samples t-tests, chi-square tests, logistic regression analyses, and ordered logistic regression analyses were used to compare and analyze the associations that existed between BRI and SSB consumption and psychological symptoms among Chinese adolescents.

Results: The BRI of Chinese adolescents aged 12-18 years was (2.03 ± 0.94). The proportions of adolescents with SSB consumption ≤1 times/week, 2-3 times/week, and ≥ 4 times/week were 33.2, 52.0, and 14.7%, respectively, and the differences were statistically significant in comparison (X 2 value of 597.860, p < 0.001). The prevalence of psychological symptoms among Chinese adolescents was 19.2%. The prevalence rates of emotional problems, behavioral problems, and social adjustment difficulties were 26.1, 25.2, and 16.1%, respectively. After adjusting for relevant covariates, ordered logistic regression analysis showed that with BRI quartiles Q1 and SSB consumption ≤1 times/week as the reference group, the adolescents in the group with BRI quartiles of Q4 and SSB consumption ≥4 times/week (OR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.77-2.30) had the highest risk of developing psychological symptoms (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: There is an association between BRI and SSB consumption with psychological symptoms in Chinese adolescents. Chinese adolescents with higher BRI and SSB consumption were at higher risk of developing psychological symptoms. In the future, the increase in BRI and SSB consumption should be effectively controlled to prevent or reduce the occurrence of psychological symptoms.

Keywords: adolescents; body roundness index; cross-sectional assessment; psychological symptoms; sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sampling flow of Chinese adolescent participants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Trends in ORs of logistic regression analysis of psychological symptoms in adolescents with different BRI and SSB consumption.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Trends in ORs of ordered logistic regression analysis of psychological symptoms in adolescents with different BRI and SSB consumption.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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