Obesity and Risk of Pediatric-Onset Multiple Sclerosis (POMS): a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is a health care problem with increasing incidence all over the world. The literature shows that obesity in childhood will increase the risk of MS, but the results are not consistent. Accordingly, we conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify the pooled risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) among children with obesity. METHODS: Two independent researchers systematically searched PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Web of Science and Google Scholar on May 1, 2023. Gray literature was also searched, including theses, reference lists of included studies and conference abstracts. RESULTS: The literature search identified 4,100 articles. After removing duplicates, 2,539 unique records remained. Of these, four studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. Two studies were done in the UK, one study was carried out in Germany and the fourth one was conducted in Saudi Arabia. The publication period was between 2019 and 2022. The total number of cases and controls was 17812 and 660757, respectively. The odds ratio (OR) of included studies ranged between 1.26-3.79 and the estimated pooled OR was 1.67 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-2.24 (I2=84.2%, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis show that the pooled OR of developing MS in children with obesity is significantly high.