Physical growth and dietary characteristics of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a cross-sectional study

To investigate the physical growth and dietary characteristics of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and to analyze their relationship with core symptoms of ADHD. A total of 268 children who were newly diagnosed with ADHD in Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from June to December 2020 were included in the ADHD group, and 102 healthy children who underwent physical examination during the same period were selected as the control group. Physical evaluations and dietary surveys were conducted for both groups. ADHD diagnosis and scoring were performed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition). Factor analysis, Spearman correlation analysis, and mediation analysis were used to study the relationship between core symptoms of ADHD, dietary patterns, and physical growth. The rate of overweight/obesity in the ADHD group was significantly higher than that in the control group (35.8% vs 21.6%,