Psychosocial and environmental risk factors of obesity and hypertension in children and adolescents-a literature overview

Małgorzata Wójcik; Julio Alvarez-Pitti; Agnieszka Kozioł-Kozakowska; Michał Brzeziński; Rosita Gabbianelli; Vesna Herceg-Čavrak; Elke Wühl; Ignacio Lucas; Dragan Radovanović; Anette Melk; Beatriz González Lopez-Valcarcel; Fernando Fernández-Aranda; Artur Mazur; Empar Lurbe; Claudio Borghi; Dorota Drożdż

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2023.1268364

Psychosocial and environmental risk factors of obesity and hypertension in children and adolescents-a literature overview

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 Nov 20:10:1268364. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2023.1268364. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Małgorzata Wójcik^{1

2}, Julio Alvarez-Pitti^{3

4

5}, Agnieszka Kozioł-Kozakowska^{2

6}, Michał Brzeziński⁷, Rosita Gabbianelli⁸, Vesna Herceg-Čavrak⁹, Elke Wühl¹⁰, Ignacio Lucas^{4

11

12

13}, Dragan Radovanović¹⁴, Anette Melk¹⁵, Beatriz González Lopez-Valcarcel¹⁶, Fernando Fernández-Aranda^{4

11

17}, Artur Mazur¹⁸, Empar Lurbe^{3

4

5}, Claudio Borghi¹⁹, Dorota Drożdż^{2

20}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology, Chair of Pediatrics, Pediatric Institute, Jagiellonian University Medical College in Kraków, Kraków, Poland.
² Interclinical Center for the Treatment of Childhood Obesity, University Children's Hospital of Kraków, Kraków, Poland.
³ Pediatric Department, Consorcio Hospital General, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
⁴ CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBEROBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
⁵ INCLIVA Biomedical Research Institute, Hospital Clínico, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Pediatric Institute, Jagiellonian University Medical College in Kraków, Kraków, Poland.
⁷ Department of Pediatrics, Gastroenterology, Allergology and Pediatric Nutrition, Medical University of Gdansk, Kraków, Poland.
⁸ Unit of Molecular Biology and Nutrigenomics, School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy.
⁹ Faculty of Health Science, Libertas International University, Zagreb, Croatia.
¹⁰ Division of Pediatric Nephrology, Center for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Clinical Psychology, University Hospital of Bellvitge-IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain.
¹² Clinical Psychology Unit, University Hospital of Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain.
¹³ Psychoneurobiology of Eating and Addictive Behaviours Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain.
¹⁴ Department of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia.
¹⁵ Children's Hospital, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
¹⁶ Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Management, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
¹⁷ Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
¹⁸ Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Medical Faculty, University of Rzeszów, Rzeszów, Poland.
¹⁹ Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
²⁰ Department of Pediatric Nephrology and Hypertension, Chair of Pediatrics, Pediatric Institute, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland.

Abstract

Childhood obesity has become a worldwide epidemic in the 21st century. Its treatment is challenging and often ineffective, among others due to complex, often not obvious causes. Awareness of the existence and meaning of psychosocial and environmental risk factors seems to be an essential element in the prevention and treatment of obesity and its complications, especially arterial hypertension. In this review, we will discuss the role of that risk factors linking obesity and increased cardiovascular disorders including the role of nutritional factors (including the role of unhealthy diet, inadequate hydration), unhealthy behaviors (e.g. smoking, alcohol and drugs, sedentary behavior, low physical activity, disrupted circadian rhythms, sleep disorders, screen exposure), unfavorable social factors (such as dysfunctional family, bullying, chronic stress, mood disorders, depression, urbanization, noise, and environmental pollution), and finally differences in cardiovascular risk in girls and boys.

Keywords: children; environmental factors; hypertension; obesity; psychosocial factors.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.