Associations of lifestyle risk factors with overweight or obesity among adolescents: a multicountry analysis

Abstract

Background About 35% of the global burden of disease has roots in adolescence. Health in adolescence is an important determinant of health in adulthood. Objectives This study aimed to generate risk scores for lifestyle behaviors among adolescents and to estimate the country-specific prevalence of these risk scores. The study also examined the relations of lifestyle risk scores with overweight or obesity among adolescents. Methods We used the most recent data available from 20 nationally representative Global School-based Student Health Surveys. Our analytical sample size was 51,597. The outcome of interest was overweight or obesity. We developed 4 lifestyle risk scores (dietary habits, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and tobacco use), which were used as the exposure variables in this study. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to estimate adjusted ORs with 95% CIs. Results In total, 18.2% of the participants were overweight or obese. Across countries, the percentage of adolescents with unhealthy dietary habits ranged from 76.7% (the Cook Islands) to 94.2% (Timor-Leste), physical inactivity ranged from 47.5% (Bangladesh) to 90.1% (the Philippines), and sedentary behavior ranged from 34.5% (Nepal) to 88.2% (Kuwait). Girls engaged in less physical activity than did boys. Increased odds of overweight or obesity were found among participants with high risk scores for physical inactivity (OR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.27) and for unhealthy sedentary behavior (OR: 1.25; 95% CI: 1.16, 1.35) compared with participants with low risk scores. Girls with high tobacco risk scores had higher odds (OR: 1.30; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.65) of overweight or obesity than did girls with low risk scores for tobacco use, whereas there were no significant differences in risk in boys. Conclusions Unhealthy lifestyle behaviors were quite prevalent among adolescents, and higher lifestyle risk scores increased the risk of overweight or obesity.

Unfavorable progression of obesity in children and adolescents due to COVID‐19 pandemic: A school‐based survey in China

“…Exercise and diet are particularly related to obesity (4). During the home confinement, students’ sleep was irregular, their indoor and sedentary activities increased, and their sport and outdoor activities decreased (19,26,27).…”

“…Excessive weight gain in early life is likely to lead to lifelong overweight and obesity and is associated with greater risk and earlier onset of chronic disorders, such as cardiovascular and metabolic diseases (2,3). In recent years, insufficient outdoor physical activity has been recognized as a major risk factor for pediatric overweight or obesity development (4). A large and growing evidence base also suggested that unhealthy weight gain of children mainly occurred during summer months, when they were out of school (5,6).…”

The Influence of Abdominal Adiposity and Physical Fitness on Obesity Status of Portuguese Adolescents

“…In a cross-sectional study, with data from 851 Colombian adolescents, a positive association was found between low physical activity levels and high insulin resistance in the obesity status of adolescents [ 20 ]. In addition, the evidence shows that during adolescence adolescents change their behavior significantly, adopting an unhealthy lifestyle, including the use of technology, poor nutritional diet, and low physical activity, which increase the risk of overweight and obesity; shows the importance of monitoring these variables and other health-related variables during adolescence [ 21 ].…”

Lower-Income Predicts Increased Smartphone Use and Problematic Behaviors Among Schoolchildren During COVID-19 Related School Modification: A Longitudinal Study

“…Insufficient outdoor physical activity has been suggested as a major risk factor for overweight pediatric or obesity development. 29 It also provided that excessive weight gain in children mainly occurred during the summer, while they were not going to school. 30 …”