Latest news with #TianGan
Medscape
2 days ago
- Business
- Medscape
ADHD, Obesity Link May Depend on Where You Live
The well-documented link between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obesity in both children and adults has typically been attributed to individual traits and behaviors, with limited attention paid to environmental and social factors. However, a new study challenged this perspective, proposing that ADHD may contribute to obesity by reducing physical activity — a connection shaped by the urban environment in which a person lives. 'Our research reveals a surprising urban advantage: As cities grow, both obesity and ADHD rates decrease proportionally,' first author Tian Gan, a PhD student at the Center for Urban Science and Progress, NYU Tandon School of Engineering in Brooklyn, New York, said in a news release. Larger cities may offer 'protective factors against these interconnected health challenges,' Gan added, citing access to better mental health care, education, and opportunities for recreation and physical activity. The study was published online in PLOS Complex Systems . Urban Impact While impulsivity — a core ADHD trait — has long been suspected to contribute to weight gain through poor food choices and reduced physical activity, this new study highlighted how an individual's urban environment can either amplify or dampen those risks. Researchers analyzed public health data from 915 cities in the United States using 'urban scaling' methods, which describe how features of cities change with population size. They observed that both obesity and ADHD prevalence decrease 'sublinearly' with population — meaning that as cities grow, the per capita prevalence of these conditions declines. At the same time, access to mental health care and higher education rises 'superlinearly,' growing faster than the population. In other words, larger cities seem to offer not just more services, but disproportionately more support for conditions linked to impulsivity, the authors theorized. But city size alone doesn't tell the whole story. Using advanced causal discovery methods, the researchers mapped a network of interrelated variables. ADHD prevalence was linked to higher physical inactivity, which in turn increased obesity. Access to mental health care helped reduce inactivity and indirectly lowered obesity risk. Higher prevalence of college education correlated with better mental health access and more physical activity. This causal map revealed a dynamic system in which impulsivity, health behaviors, and urban infrastructure interact — suggesting that city environments can either reinforce or weaken these effects. The link between ADHD and obesity was stronger in cities with fewer opportunities for physical activity or greater food insecurity and weaker in cities with better access to mental health care and higher education levels, they explained. To validate their findings, the researchers examined individual-level data from the National Survey of Children's Health, which included 19,333 US children. This analysis confirmed the city-level data: Children with more severe ADHD were more likely to be obese, especially when physical activity and household education were low. Taken together, the findings reinforce evidence that ADHD contributes to obesity and point to the urban environment as a potentially modifiable target for intervention, the authors said. 'These findings underscore the importance of city-level interventions in mitigating the impact of impulsivity disorders on the obesity epidemic,' Maurizio Porfiri, PhD, who heads the Center for Urban Science and Progress at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, added in the news release.
Forbes
4 days ago
- Health
- Forbes
Having ADHD And Living In A Smaller City Might Increase Obesity Risk: Study
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is usually associated with the image of a child jumping off walls and being physically active. Still, a recent study found that ADHD-induced impulsivity can make people more likely to over-eat and have a higher body mass index — particularly if they live in a smaller city with lower access to mental health services and opportunities for physical activity. On the other hand, people with ADHD who live in larger cities are less likely to become obese due to better accessibility to mental health services. One of the study authors, Tian Gan, a Ph.D. student at the Tandon School of Engineering at New York University said in a press release: "Our research reveals a surprising urban advantage: as cities grow, both obesity and ADHD rates decrease proportionally. Meanwhile, mental health services become more accessible, helping combat physical inactivity—a key link between ADHD and obesity. This pattern suggests larger cities offer protective factors against these interconnected health challenges." Gan and colleagues analyzed data from 915 cities in the United States to investigate how impulsivity caused by ADHD could be contributing to a higher risk of obesity and how urban living conditions influence this correlation. 'Within each State, cities are different with respect to any of these features, confirming the inequalities in the United States in lifestyle, education, healthcare, and access to resources,' the authors noted in the study that was published in the journal PLoS Complex Systems. 'Our analysis highlights the role of physical activity as a feasible target for intervention, being sensitive to variations in college education, food insecurity, and access to mental health providers.' Since the last decade, researchers have hypothesized that people with ADHD might be less likely to be physically active and engage in the recommended levels of physical activity due to 'poor motor skills and executive function deficits.' Especially because ADHD causes executive dysfunction that impairs an individual's ability to follow exercise routines or adhere to stringent regimens required to exercise consistently. Prior studies conducted on Dutch and Korean children with ADHD found that living with this neurodevelopmental condition put them at a higher risk of being overweight and obese than their counterparts without ADHD. "Our analysis suggests that mental health care may contrast these tendencies, promoting awareness about health values of physical activity in city dwellers," the study authors highlighted. Because mental health treatments are mainly accessible in large cities, along with big city dwellers having higher levels of education and lower risks of food insecurity, they found that these benefits reduced the risk of over-eating and physical inactivity among ADHDers. "Our research suggests that supporting physical activity, especially in children with ADHD, could significantly improve long-term health outcomes. Surprisingly, we discovered ADHD influences obesity through dual pathways: reduced physical activity and independent biological mechanisms related to impulse control and eating behaviors—indicating that effective interventions need to address both aspects," explained Simone Macrì, a study author from the Centre for Behavioural Sciences and Mental Health at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome, Italy, in a press release.
