Relationship between 8/9-yr-old school children BMI, parents' BMI and educational level: a cross sectional survey

Nutrition Journal

Mariano V Giacchi¹  Valentina Pilato¹  Andrea Pammolli¹  Giacomo Lazzeri¹ 

[1] CREPS-Research Center for Health Education and Promotion, University of Siena, Via A. Moro 2 Siena 53100, Italy

关键词: educational level;    parents' nutritional status;    underweight;    obesity;    childhood;   

Others  :  829474
DOI  :  10.1186/1475-2891-10-76

 received in 2011-03-28, accepted in 2011-07-19,  发布年份 2011

【 摘 要 】

Background

Parents are responsible not only for the genetic structure of their children, but also for passing onto them their behaviours and attitudes toward life. The aim of this study was to analyse the connection between school-age children's obesity and that of their parents as well as between child obesity and parents' educational level, as a proxy indicator of the socio-economic status (SES) of families in Tuscany.

Methods

The children sample was selected from "OKkio alla Salute 2010" (a cross sectional survey carried out by the Italian Institute of Health) and consisted of 1,751 (922 males and 855 females) 8-9 year-old school children. Weight and height were measured by ad hoc trained personnel, and Body Mass Index (BMI) categories were calculated using Cole et al.'s cut-off. Parents' weight, height and educational level were collected by a self-administered questionnaire. The educational levels were classified as high, medium and low.

Results

The prevalence of obese children increased along the parents' BMI category: from 1.4% for underweight mothers to 30.3% for obese mothers and from 4% for under-normal-weight fathers to 23.9% for obese fathers (p < 0.001). An inverse relationship was observed between the parents' educational level and child obesity, the lowest educational level corresponding to the highest prevalence of obese children: 9.3% for mothers with a low educational level compared to 5.8% for mothers with a high educational level (p = 0.15); similarly, the corresponding prevalence for fathers was 9.5% compared to 4.5% (p = 0.03).

Conclusion

Parents' obesity and the cultural resources of the family, particularly the father's, seem to influence the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Tuscan children.

【 授权许可】

   
2011 Lazzeri et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Ebbeling CB, Pawlak DB, Ludwig DS: Childhood obesity: public-health crisis, common sense cure. Lancet 2002, 360:473-82.
• [2]Clement K, Vaisse C, Lahlou N, Cabrol S, Pelloux V, Cassuto D, Gourmelen M, Dina C, Chambaz J, Lacorte JM, Basdevant A, Bougneres P, Lebouc Y, Froguel P, Guy-Grand B: A Mutation in the human leptin receptor gene causes obesity and pituitary dysfunction. Nature 1998, 392:398-401.
• [3]Montague CT, Farooqi IS, Whitehead JP, Soos MA, Rau H, Wareham NJ, Sewter CP, Digby JE, Mohammed SN, Hurst JA, Cheetham CH, Earley AR, Barnett AH, Prins JB, O'Rahilly S: Congenital leptin deficiency is associated with severe early-onset obesity in humans. Nature 1997, 387:903-8.
• [4]Farooqi IS, O'Rahilly S: Recent advances in the genetics of severe childhood obesity. Arch Dis Child 2000, 83:31-4.
• [5]Rankinen T, Perusse L, Weisnagel SJ, Snyder EE, Chagnon YC, Bouchard C: The human obesity gene map: the 2001 update. Obes Res 2002, 10:196-243.
• [6]Lissau-Lund-Sorensen I, Sorensen TI: Prospective study of the influence of social factors in childhood on risk of overweight in young adulthood. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1992, 16:169-75.
• [7]Maffeis C, Micciolo R, Must A, Zaffanello M, Pinelli L: Parental and perinatal factors associated with childhood obesity in north-east Italy. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1994, 18:301-5.
• [8]Maffeis C, Talamini G, Tato L: Influence of diet, physical activity and parents' obesity on children's adiposity: a four-year longitudinal study. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1998, 22:758-64.
• [9]Whitaker RC, Wright JA, Pepe MS, Seidel KD, Dietz WH: Predicting obesity in young adulthood from childhood and parental obesity. N Engl J Med 1997, 337:869-73.
• [10]Costa G, Faggiano F: L'equità nella salute in Italia. Franco Angeli: Milano; 1994.
• [11]Faggiano F, Renga G, Versino E: Determinants of social inequalities in health in Italy. Ann Ig 2000, 12:67-74.
• [12]Mackenbach JP, Bos V, Andersen O, Cardano M, Costa G, Harding S, Reid A, Hemstrom O, Valkonen T, Kunst AE: Widening socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in six Western European countries. Int J Epidemiol 2003, 32:830-7.
• [13]Langnase K, Mast M, Muller MJ: Social class differences in overweight of prepubertal children in northwest Germany. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2002, 26:566-72.
• [14]Kimm SY, Obarzanek E, Barton BA, Aston CE, Similo SL, Morrison JA, Sabry ZI, Schreiber GB, McMahon RP: Race, socioeconomic status, and obesity in 9- to 10-year-old girls: the NHLBI Growth and Health Study. Ann Epidemiol 1996, 6:266-75.
• [15]Gnavi R, Spagnoli TD, Galotto C, Pugliese E, Carta A, Cesari L: Socioeconomic status, overweight and obesity in prepuberal children: a study in an area of Northern Italy. Eur J Epidemiol 2000, 16:797-803.
• [16]Binkin N, Fontana G, Lamberti A, Cattaneo C, Baglio G, Perra A, Spinelli A: A national survey of the prevalence of childhood pre-obese and obesity in Italy. Obesity reviews 2010.
• [17]World Health Organization: Physical status: the use and interpretation of anthropometry. Report of a WHO Export Committee. World Health Organ Tech Rep Ser 1995, 854:1-452.
• [18]Cole TJ, Bellizzi MC, Flegal KM, Dietz WH: Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: international survey. BMJ 2000, 320(7244):1240-3.
• [19]Cole TJ, Flegal KM, Nicholls D, Jackson AA: Body mass index cut offs to define thinness in children and adolescents: international survey. BMJ 2007, 335:194-7.
• [20]Vereecken C, Maes E: Influence of mother's educational level on food parenting practices and food habits of young children. Appetite 2004, 43:93-103.
• [21]Cribb V, Jones LR, Rogers I, Ness A, Emmett P: Is maternal education level associated with diet in 10-year-old children? Public Health Nutrition 2011, 18:1-12.
• [22]Ravussin E, Swinburn BA: Pathophysiology of obesity. Lancet 1992, 340:404-8.
• [23]Klesges RC, Stein RJ, Eck LH, Isbell TR, Klesges LM: Parental influence on food selection in young children and its relationships to childhood obesity. Am J Clin Nutr 1991, 53:859-64.
• [24]Wardle J, Guthrie C, Sanderson S, Birch L, Plomin R: Food and activity preferences in children of lean and obese parents. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2001, 25:971-7.
• [25]James WP, Nelson M, Ralph A, Leather S: Socioeconomic determinants of health. The contribution of nutrition to inequalities in health. BMJ 1997, 314:1545-9.
• [26]Irala-Estevez JD, Groth M, Johansson L, Oltersdorf U, Prattala R, Martinez-Gonzalez MA: A systematic review of socio-economic differences in food habits in Europe: consumption of fruit and vegetables. Eur J Clin Nutr 2000, 54:706-14.
• [27]Guillaume M, Lapidus L, Lambert A: Obesity and nutrition in children. The Belgian Luxembourg Child Study IV. Eur J Clin Nutr 1998, 52:323-8.