Psychological well-being and the reversal of childhood overweight and obesity in the UK: a longitudinal national cohort study

Objective: To examine the prospective association between psychological well-being and overweight and obesity reversal. Methods: We analysed data of UK children with overweight or obesity at ages 11 (n=4,556), 14 (n=3,791) (baselines), and 17 (follow-up). Psychological well-being related measures were characterised into indexes of caregiver-reported child mental health and child-reported psychosocial well-being (a higher score indicated better mental health or psychosocial well-being). Weight changes were presented as reversal vs. persistence of overweight or obesity and residualised change body mass index (BMI) z-scores. Data were analysed using regression analysis. Results: Better child mental health and psychosocial well-being at age 11 were independently associated with increased odds of reversal vs. persistence (OR=1.16; 95%CI=1.03,1.29; and OR=1.29; 95%CI=1.15,1.44; respectively) and decreased BMI z-scores (β=-0.08, 95%CI=-0.13,-0.03; and β=-0.07, 95%CI=-0.11,-0.03; respectively) to age 17. However, neither were associated with weight changes when measured at age 14. Analyses between psychological well-being related measures and timing of measures indicated that psychological well-being related measures were more likely to prospectively predict weight changes when measured at age 11 versus age 14. Conclusions: Better psychological well-being at age 11 is a prognostic factor that may be associated with an increased likelihood of reversing childhood overweight and obesity by age 17.