ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1600848
Association between dyslexia and overweight/obesity among Chinese children: findings from a cross-sectional study
Provisionally accepted
Bing Zhu1Hong Fan2Min Wang3Kaiheng Zhu2Yanan Feng2Haoxue Wang2Qi Jiang2Zhen Xiang2Qianhui Chen2Ziyan Xiong4
Ranran Song5*- 1Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Zhejiang CDC), Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
- 2Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hebei Province, China
- 3Quzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Quzhou, China
- 4Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- 5Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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Background: Extensive studies have consistently reported associations between neurodevelopmental disorders and overweight/obesity. However, limited research addressed the weight status of children with dyslexia. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the association between dyslexia and overweight/obesity among Chinese children.: 7116 children were recruited from the Tongji Reading Environment and Dyslexia research program, including 197 dyslexic and 6919 non-dyslexic children. The standard "Screening for overweight and obesity among school-aged children and adolescents (WS-T 586-2018)" was utilized to define overweight and obesity. Logistic regression models were employed to examine the association between dyslexia and overweight/obesity.Results: Among dyslexic children, 18.8% were overweight and 23.9% were obese. Among nondyslexic children, 17.3% were overweight and 15.4% were obese. The proportion of obesity among dyslexic children was significantly higher than that among non-dyslexic children (P=0.001). After adjusting for all potential confounders, children with dyslexia were more likely to be obese (OR=1.57, 95% CI: 1.10-2.24). Analyses stratified by sex indicated that such associations were more significant among girls. No significant association was found between dyslexia and overweight.This cross-sectional study provides evidence that dyslexic children had significantly higher odds of obesity. This finding emphasizes the urgent need for heightened awareness and strategies targeted to mitigate excess body weight for this special population.
Keywords: Overweight, Obesity, Dyslexia, Reading disabilities, Children
Received: 27 Mar 2025; Accepted: 27 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhu, Fan, Wang, Zhu, Feng, Wang, Jiang, Xiang, Chen, Xiong and Song. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ranran Song, Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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