Preschool overweight and obesity in urban and rural Vietnam: differences in prevalence and associated factors

Abstract

BackgroundChildhood obesity may soon be an equally important health threat as undernutrition and infectious diseases. Accurate information about prevalence and risk factors of obesity in children is important for the design of prevention.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to estimate prevalence of overweight and obesity for preschool children in two Vietnamese areas, one urban and one rural, and to identify risk factors.DesignA cross-sectional study was conducted in urban Dong Da and rural Ba Vi districts, Hanoi, Vietnam. Totally, 2,677 children, 1,364 urban and 1,313 rural, were weighed and measured. Caregivers were interviewed. Background information about children and families was obtained from regular household surveys.ResultsThe prevalence of overweight and obesity combined were 21.1% (95% CI 18.9–23.3) in the urban area and 7.6% (95% CI 6.2–9.2) in the rural. Multiple logistic regression revealed that at the individual level, in both sites, the risk increased with increased child age. The identified urban risk factors were being a boy, consuming large amounts of food, eating fast, and indoor activity less than 2 hours per day. The rural risk factors were frequent consumption of fatty food. At the family level, significant association was found in rural areas with frequent watching of food advertisements on television.ConclusionsOverweight and obesity are emerging problems in Vietnam, particularly in the urban context. Prevention programs should focus on education about healthy eating habits at early preschool age and need to be tailored separately for urban and rural areas since the risk factors differ. Non-healthy food advertisement needs to be restricted.

Prevalence and factors associated with overweight and obesity among private kindergarten school children in Bahirdar Town, Northwest Ethiopia: cross-sectional study

“…However, the current study was lower than study reports from different countries; 20.1% in Kenya [8], 23.6% in Nigeria [10] and 21.1% in urban Vietnam [9]. The observed discrepancy might be due to socio-cultural variations like high socio-economic status in the previous studies.…”

“…Studies in developing countries have shown that the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children are increasing overtime and it varies from country to country 20.1% in Kenya [8], 21.1% in urban Vietnam [9], 23.6% in Nigeria [10], 9% in the Recife Metropolitan Region [11] and 8.42% in Punjab India [12]. …”

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“…4 Several studies also indicated that rural children spend more time being active outdoors than children living in urban areas. 5 Low levels of physical activity may be due to increased screen time activity among children. At present, children spend more time watching television and playing computer games, which leads to increased snacking habits.…”