Table 3.
Associations between bullying victimization in children and adolescents and other health outcomes
| Data points | Pooled OR | 95%CI lower bound | 95%CI upper bound | Cochran’s Q | I² (%) | Test for heterogeneity (P value) | |
| Somatic symptoms | |||||||
| Unspecified psychosomatic symptoms | 25 | 2.00 | 1.54 | 2.60 | 232.02 | 89.66 | < 0.01 |
| Stomach ache | 25 | 1.76 | 1.53 | 2.03 | 138.73 | 82.7 | < 0.01 |
| Sleeping difficulties | 24 | 1.73 | 1.46 | 2.05 | 574.91 | 96 | < 0.01 |
| Headache | 26 | 1.64 | 1.38 | 1.94 | 169.16 | 85.22 | < 0.01 |
| Bedwetting | 3 | 2.51 | 1.44 | 4.37 | 4.93 | 59.45 | 0.08 |
| Feeling tired | 2 | 2.68 | 1.39 | 5.19 | 1.22 | 17.87 | 0.27 |
| Poor appetite | 2 | 2.23 | 1.60 | 3.12 | 0 | 0 | 0.95 |
| Back pain | 8 | 1.67 | 1.43 | 1.95 | 73.53 | 90.48 | < 0.01 |
| Skin problems | 1 | 1.82 | 1.33 | 251 | - | - | - |
| Dizziness | 9 | 1.64 | 1.38 | 1.95 | 76.57 | 89.55 | < 0.01 |
| Eating and weight related problems | |||||||
| Binge eating | 2 | 2.66 | 1.68 | 4.22 | 0.57 | 0 | 0.45 |
| Non-diet soft drink consumption | 1 | 1.21 | 1.04 | 1.41 | - | - | - |
| Skips breakfast | 6 | 1.41 | 1.20 | 1.65 | 11.89 | 57.94 | 0.04 |
| Underweight | |||||||
| Pooling all | 2 | 1.27 | 0.73 | 2.21 | 0 | 0 | 0.96 |
| Sex | |||||||
| Male | 1 | 1.28 | 0.69 | 2.37 | - | - | - |
| Female | 1 | 1.24 | 0.19 | 2.29 | - | - | - |
| Overweight | |||||||
| Pooling all | 14 | 1.68 | 1.21 | 2.33 | 82.69 | 84.28 | < 0.01 |
| Study type | |||||||
| Retrospective/cross- sectional | 12 | 1.99 | 1.39 | 2.85 | 65.45 | 83.19 | < 0.01 |
| Prospective cohort | 2 | 0.98 | 0.64 | 1.49 | 1.92 | 47.97 | 0.17 |
| Sex | |||||||
| Male | 7 | 1.22 | 0.99 | 1.49 | 8.04 | 25.4 | 0.23 |
| Female | 7 | 2.22 | 1.28 | 3.84 | 50.17 | 88.04 | < 0.01 |
| Severity of bullying | |||||||
| Sometimes | 2 | 1.32 | 1.00 | 1.74 | 0.09 | 0 | 0.77 |
| Frequent | 6 | 1.14 | 0.88 | 1.47 | 7.37 | 32.2 | 0.19 |
| Obese | |||||||
| Pooling all | 13 | 1.78 | 1.42 | 2.21 | 14.68 | 18.28 | 0.26 |
| Study type | |||||||
| Retrospective/cross-sectional | 10 | 1.97 | 1.53 | 2.53 | 7.22 | 0 | 0.61 |
| Prospective cohort | 3 | 1.57 | 0.89 | 2.77 | 6.89 | 70.97 | 0.03 |
| Sex | |||||||
| Male | 6 | 1.94 | 1.45 | 2.60 | 4.88 | 0 | 0.43 |
| Female | 6 | 2.15 | 1.57 | 2.94 | 2.22 | 0 | 0.82 |
| Severity of bullying | |||||||
| Sometimes | 2 | 1.63 | 1.11 | 2.38 | 0.52 | 0 | 0.47 |
| Frequent | 6 | 2.09 | 1.59 | 2.75 | 5.26 | 4.86 | 0.39 |
| Sexual behaviour problems | |||||||
| Teen parent | 5 | 1.26 | 0.81 | 1.97 | 15.11 | 73.53 | < 0.01 |
| Risky sexual behaviour | 4 | 2.28 | 0.95 | 5.48 | 23.43 | 87.2 | < 0.01 |
| Early onset of sexual activities | 3 | 1.44 | 0.90 | 2.30 | 7.38 | 72.91 | 0.02 |
| Pooling all | 12 | 1.51 | 1.01 | 2.25 | 85.66 | 87.16 | < 0.01 |
| Study type | |||||||
| Retrospective/cross-sectional | 3 | 1.77 | 0.42 | 7.52 | 54.97 | 96.36 | < 0.01 |
| Prospective cohort | 9 | 1.34 | 0.98 | 1.84 | 23.88 | 66.51 | < 0.01 |
| Severity of bullying | |||||||
| Sometimes | 2 | 0.81 | 0.51 | 1.28 | 2.46 | 59.32 | 0.12 |
| Frequent | 4 | 2.38 | 1.05 | 5.41 | 27.55 | 89.11 | < 0.01 |
| Health services utilised | |||||||
| Pooling all | 16 | 1.20 | 0.99 | 1.45 | 34.37 | 56.36 | < 0.01 |
| Study type | |||||||
| Retrospective/cross-sectional | 14 | 1.14 | 0.94 | 1.39 | 27.91 | 53.42 | 0.01 |
| Prospective cohort | 2 | 1.54 | 0.65 | 3.61 | 4.43 | 77.43 | 0.04 |
| Sex | |||||||
| Male | 7 | 1.17 | 0.95 | 1.43 | 3.54 | 0 | 0.74 |
| Female | 7 | 1.41 | 1.12 | 1.77 | 11.16 | 46.25 | 0.08 |
| General medication use | |||||||
| Pooling all | 12 | 1.16 | 0.80 | 1.70 | 117.98 | 90.68 | < 0.01 |
| Study type | |||||||
| Retrospective/cross-sectional | 11 | 0.99 | 0.56 | 1.75 | 112.26 | 91.09 | < 0.01 |
| Prospective cohort | 1 | 1.67 | 1.09 | 2.58 | - | - | - |
| Sex | |||||||
| Male | |||||||
| Medication for headache | 2 | 1.43 | 1.06 | 1.93 | 2.34 | 57.21 | 0.13 |
| Medication for stomach-ache | 2 | 1.09 | 0.72 | 1.65 | 1.9 | 47.5 | 0.17 |
| Female | |||||||
| Medication for headache | 2 | 1.19 | 0.98 | 1.45 | 1.33 | 24.79 | 0.25 |
| Medication for stomach-ache | 2 | 1.23 | 1.01 | 1.5 | 0.27 | 0 | 0.61 |
| Severity of bullying | |||||||
| Sometimes | 5 | 1.26 | 0.99 | 1.59 | 15.46 | 74.13 | < 0.01 |
| Frequent | 5 | 1.72 | 1.11 | 2.67 | 24.9 | 83.93 | < 0.01 |
| Over the counter drug misuse | 3 | 0.95 | 0.19 | 4.66 | 76.34 | 97.38 | < 0.01 |
| Psychotropic medication use | |||||||
| Pooling all | 13 | 1.28 | 0.72 | 2.26 | 205.76 | 94.17 | < 0.01 |
| Study type | |||||||
| Retrospective/cross-sectional | 11 | 0.95 | 0.32 | 2.8 | 195.34 | 94.88 | < 0.01 |
| Prospective cohort | 2 | 1.31 | 0.66 | 2.6 | 5.61 | 82.18 | 0.02 |
| Sex | |||||||
| Male | |||||||
| Medication for nervousness | 2 | 1.32 | 0.42 | 4.1 | 14.98 | 93.32 | < 0.01 |
| Medication for sleeping | 2 | 1.89 | 1.33 | 2.67 | 1.59 | 37.28 | 0.21 |
| Female | |||||||
| Medication for nervousness | 2 | 1.97 | 1.49 | 2.59 | 1.06 | 5.88 | 0.3 |
| Medication for sleeping | 2 | 1.83 | 1.42 | 2.36 | 0.27 | 0 | 0.6 |
| Severity of bullying | |||||||
| Sometimes | 6 | 1.66 | 1.26 | 2.18 | 18.54 | 73.04 | < 0.01 |
| Frequent | 6 | 1.88 | 1.17 | 3.03 | 31.93 | 84.34 | < 0.01 |
| Prescription drug misuse | 3 | 0.92 | 0.17 | 5.07 | 88.16 | 97.73 | < 0.01 |
| Poor general health | |||||||
| Pooling all | 29 | 1.83 | 1.45 | 2.31 | 133.31 | 79 | < 0.01 |
| Study type | |||||||
| Retrospective/cross-sectional | 22 | 1.71 | 1.21 | 2.42 | 112.06 | 81.26 | < 0.01 |
| Prospective cohort | 7 | 1.56 | 1.07 | 2.28 | 19.72 | 69.57 | < 0.01 |
| Sex | |||||||
| Male | 9 | 1.95 | 1.16 | 3.27 | 20.5 | 60.98 | 0.01 |
| Female | 9 | 2.36 | 1.11 | 5.04 | 52.78 | 84.84 | < 0.01 |
| Severity of bullying | |||||||
| Sometimes | 4 | 2.16 | 1.10 | 4.26 | 9.15 | 67.21 | 0.03 |
| Frequent | 4 | 6.96 | 2.17 | 22.35 | 16.72 | 82.05 | < 0.01 |