Investigation of adolescents diagnosed with primary obesity in terms of internet and smart phone addiction, ADHD and psychiatric comorbidity

ABSTRACT Objective: Obesity is a chronic disease that results from an increase in fatty body mass compared to lean body mass, and its etiology is multifactorial. It progresses with many disorders not only physically but also mentally. Today, just like obesity, internet and smartphone addictions, which are increasing in frequency and importance, accompanying various psychosocial and physical problems, are also associated with obesity. With this study, it was aimed to investigate the sociodemographic characteristics and mental pathologies of obese adolescents, to determine their internet / smartphone usage characteristics and their addiction levels, and to contribute to the literature in this direction. Materials and methods: Our study group was composed of 48 obese patients between the ages of 12-18 who were admitted to the Dicle University Medical Faculty Hospital Pediatric Endocrinology Outpatient Clinic between January and March 2021, diagnosed with primary obesity, and 49 healthy and volunteer controls who were matched in terms of age and gender. A sociodemographic and clinical data form prepared by the researchers was filled in the groups. The accompanying psychopathologies were screened by using the "Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS)" and by conducting clinical interviews based on DSM-5. Young's Internet Addiction Scale (YIAS), Addiction Profile Index-Internet Addiction Form (APIINT), Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Form (SAS-SF) to the patient and control groups; Atilla Turgay Child and Adolescent Behavioral Disorders Screening and Evaluation Scale Based on DSM IV was given to their parents. Data were analyzed with SPSS 18.0 program. Results: In the obese group, the average age of parents, obesity and psychopathology in the family were significantly higher. It was observed that the participants had similar family characteristics, socioeconomic and sociocultural levels. Obese adolescents were found to use the internet and smartphones for significantly longer periods of time, and snack more in front of the screen. Internet / smart phone usage for gaming was significantly higher in the obese group, general information search and news / newspaper reading in the control group. Obese adolescents had significantly higher mean scores of YIAS, total APIINT, SAS-SF and Atilla Turgay Scale. The average of YIAS scores was 36,64 ± 14,25 in obese adolescents and 28,79 ± 6,54 in the control group (p = 0,001); the mean scores of the APIINT scale were 1,97 ± 0,60 in the obese group and 1,41 ± 0,49 in the control group (p <0,001); the average of SAS-SF scale scores was 26,68 ± 11,78 in obese adolescents and 18,63 ± 6,93 in the control group (p <0,001). In addition, according to clinical interviews based on K-SADS and DSM-5, it was observed that obese adolescents received more lifetime and present more psychiatric diagnoses, Depressive Disorder, Anxiety Disorder and ADHD diagnoses more than the control group. Conclusion : Our study shows that obesity progresses with a high rate of internet / smartphone addiction and mental problems. Considering the difficulty of obesity treatment and the high number of complications, biopsychosocial interventions and multidisciplinary approaches involving mental health professionals are important for the prevention and treatment of pediatric obesity. Considering that the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents is gradually increasing, it is necessary to evaluate the obesity-diagnosed youth in terms of accompanying internet / smartphone addiction, ADHD and other psychopathologies, and clinicians should be careful in this regard. In addition, in order to understand the causality between obesity and psychopathologies, society-based and longitudinal studies with larger samples are needed. Keywords: obesity, internet, smartphone, ADHD, psychopathology