The Relationship Between Blood Lipid and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in an Obese Population of Chinese Children: An Obesity-Stratified Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Although obesity has been related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), few studies have examined the relationship between blood lipid levels and ADHD in children. We aimed to evaluate whether increased blood lipid levels are associated with the prevalence of ADHD in children. METHODS: A total of 1179 children were studied in the cross-sectional analysis. Multivariate logistic regression and linear regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association of blood lipid levels with the prevalence of ADHD in children. RESULTS: In 1179 children, the average age was 10.4 years, and the percentage of boys was 50.3%. 97 (8.2%) of the children were diagnosed with ADHD. The logistic regression analysis demonstrated that elevated levels of total cholesterol (OR=2.001, 95% CI 1.247–3.541, P-trend=0.024), triglycerides (OR=1.776, 95% CI 1.448–2.187, P-trend=0.003) and LDL (low density lipoprotein; OR=2.016, 95% CI 1.335–3.966, P-trend<0.001) and reduced levels of HDL (high density lipoprotein; OR=0.577, 95% CI 0.298–0.948, P-trend=0.023) were associated with the prevalence of ADHD after adjustments were made for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), residence type, maternal smoking during pregnancy, breastfeeding and breastfeeding length, maternal and paternal educational levels, and marital status of parents in Model 3. The stratified analysis using “obese” as a covariate showed that elevated levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL and reduced levels of HDL were independently associated with an increased risk of ADHD in obese children. CONCLUSION: Increased blood lipid levels were associated with ADHD in obese children.