Anthropometric evaluation of children aged between 3 and 9 years from the Canary Islands
Obesity was declared as a global epidemic, as it affected more and more countries worldwide. Recent evidence has shown that the rates of overweight/ obesity have reached wide-ranging proportions in children under the age of 5 years, making it one of the most serious global public health challenges...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
ALIES - Associação Lusófona para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação e do Ensino das Ciências da Saúde
2019-06-01
|
| Series: | Journal Biomedical and Biopharmaceutical Research (BBR) |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.alies.pt/BBR%20Editions/Vol-16-2-2019/Art1.pdf |
| Summary: | Obesity was declared as a global epidemic, as it affected more and more countries worldwide. Recent evidence has
shown that the rates of overweight/ obesity have reached wide-ranging proportions in children under the age of 5 years,
making it one of the most serious global public health challenges of the 21st century.
A cross-sectional analysis to assess the prevalence of normal weight, overweight, and obesity in pre-school and school
children from Canary Island was designed. The final sample size analyzed included 1007 participants aged between 3
and 9 years old.
Girls were significantly more overweight and obese than boys at age 4, and more overweight, but not obese, at age
9. The odds ratio of presenting overweight or obesity were significantly higher for girls and later in childhood (in
total population and both genders separately) in the fully-adjusted model. Further studies are needed to understand the behaviors leading to this condition, mainly in girls.
These results emphasize the importance of nutritional education programs, even in young children, to improve the eating choices and consequently reducing childhood obesity |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2182-2360 2182-2379 |