Association between Hyperactivity and SSB Consumption in Schoolchildren: A Cross-Sectional Study in China

Abstract

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) consumption has risen significantly, which may lead to various health problems. Studies about the association between SSBs and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children are rare and inconsistent. We have used the two-stage cluster sampling method to select 6541 students aged 6–12. We further investigated their basic information and SSB intake. Teachers’ questionnaires and parents’ questionnaires were used to evaluating the hyperactive behaviors in children. We examined the associations between SSB consumption and hyperactivity index (HI) by adopting the censored least absolute deviation (CLAD) estimator. Then, we further evaluated the impacts of sex and age on the association between SSB intake and hyperactivity. Children who weekly drank SSB two or more times were associated with 0.05 (0.04, 0.07) and 0.04 (0.02, 0.06) higher scores of ln (HI+1) reported by teachers and parents, respectively, compared to non-consumers children (p for trend < 0.05). A stronger association between SSB intake and hyperactivity occurred in girls and old children. (p for interaction < 0.05). SSB intake has a positive correlation with the risk of hyperactivity in children, and the frequency of SSB consumption and hyperactivity have a dose–response relationship.