Socio‐demographic and behavioral risk factors associated with the high prevalence of overweight and obesity in portuguese children

Abstract

Objectives Childhood obesity is a public health concern in Portugal. Socio‐demographic and behavioral factors are highly associated with obesity but are not clearly understood. This article aims to update the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Portuguese children and to explore the influence and risks of socio‐demographic factors and behavioral factors. Methods A cross‐sectional study of Portuguese children aged 3–10 years from all 18 mainland districts took place between March 2009 and January 2010. The sample was composed by 17,136 children, 3–10 years of age (8,455 boys; 8,681 girls). Height, weight, and other anthropometric measurements were obtained by trained technicians. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated along with other anthropometric variables. Data analyses took place between April and September 2012. The overweight/obesity classification was established by age‐and sex‐specific BMI cut‐off points as defined by the International obesity task force (IOTF). Parents completed questionnaires about socio‐demographic and behavioral characteristics of the family. Results Almost 28% of the Portuguese children were overweight or obese (19.7% overweight; 8.2% obese). Prevalence was greater in girls than in boys. Logistic regression models found that the odds of childhood obesity were significantly affected by biological, socio‐demographic, and behavioral factors. Conclusions The protective factors against childhood overweight/obesity in this sample of Portuguese children are: (i) being male; (ii) having been breastfeed; (iii) having been born from mothers who did not smoke during pregnancy; (iv) engaging in little sedentary behaviors (TV, PC, and playing electronic games); (iv) performing at least 1 h of moderate physical activity every day; and (v) having parents with higher educational levels who also have their BMI within the healthy ranges. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 25:733–742, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Risk factors of overweight and obesity among preschool children with different ethnic background

“…Numerous studies [4,7,8,14,15,25,27,56] have sought to highlight the factors playing a major role in this relationship. Understanding these factors will help to devise and implement focused preventive measures.…”

“…Several systematic reviews and observational studies have suggested an effect of breastfeeding on the risk of childhood overweight/obesity and adiposity [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Many prospective studies have found a positive association between poor childhood dietary habits and body weight in later life [26,27].…”

“…The risk of being overweight or obese is also higher among children who skip breakfast [30]. Watching television and/or eating and snacking during TV time can contribute to overweight and obesity through an increase in caloric intake (decrease in satiety and/or influence of advertized foods on food choices), inactivity, and possibly a decrease in physical activity [25,[31][32][33].…”

Prevalence of Abdominal Obesity and Excess Weight among Portuguese Children and Why Abdominal Obesity Should Be Included in Clinical Practice

“…However, those differences did not remain significant when comparing overweight and obesity separately. Differences among genders have been observed in previous studies but are not consistent with some registering higher levels of overweight/obesity among girls than boys 3,34 while others found the inverse. 15,17,36 These disparities between studies may be due to differences in age groups or lifestyle habits (e.g., physical activity and diet).…”

“…33 Later, in 2008, 37.9% children living in Portugal were classified as overweight (including obese) and 15.3% obese, 14 and a study carried in 2009/2010 among 9 -10-year-old Portuguese children observed that 31% of the children were overweight/obese. 34 More recently, data from the central region of Portugal, observed that among 6 -12-year-old children, 22.3% were considered overweight and 10.7% as obese. 17 Those results, compared with the prevalence found in this study for overweight (15.9%), obesity (6.1%) and overweight including obesity (21.9%), suggest that the prevalence of overweight and obesity may have been decreasing in the last few years.…”