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Risk factors of obesity in a five year old population. Parental versus environmental factors
E Locard1, N Mamelle, A Billette
1GREPS, Groupe de Recherche en Education Pour La Santé, Lyon, France.
Insights
Childhood obesity prevention needs focus on at-risk groups. Short sleep duration is a significant environmental factor linked to childhood obesity, even when considering parental history.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Childhood obesity is a growing public health concern.
- Effective prevention strategies require identifying at-risk populations and key influencing factors.
- Understanding the interplay between genetics and environment is crucial for targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify environmental factors correlated with childhood obesity.
- To assess the independent influence of these environmental factors on childhood obesity, controlling for parental obesity history.
- To inform evidence-based strategies for childhood obesity prevention.
Main Methods:
- Case-controlled study involving 327 cases and 704 controls of five-year-old school children.
- Anthropometric assessments conducted at school using standardized definitions for obesity (weight-for-height > or = 2 SD).
- Parental interviews collected data on constitutional factors (parental overweight, birth overweight) and environmental factors (family structure, socio-economic status, lifestyle).
Main Results:
- Parental overweight (RR=3.1) and birth overweight (RR=2.4) were strongly associated with childhood obesity.
- Key environmental factors identified: maternal Southern European origin (RR=1.9), snacking (RR=1.3), excessive TV viewing (RR=2.1), and short sleep duration (RR=4.9).
- Logistic regression confirmed that short sleep duration remained a significant independent predictor of childhood obesity (p<0.05) after accounting for parental overweight and TV viewing.
Conclusions:
- Parental history and birth weight are significant predictors of childhood obesity.
- Environmental factors, particularly short sleep duration, play a critical role in the development of childhood obesity.
- Targeted interventions focusing on sleep hygiene and other identified environmental factors are recommended for at-risk children.
Abstract:
To be more effective, the prevention of obesity in childhood should be focused on the population at risk. The purpose of the present study is firstly to find correlations between certain environmental factors and obesity in childhood, and secondly to measure the influence of the environmental factors after taking the parental history of obesity into account. This case controlled study includes 704 controls vs. 327 cases selected in a population of five year old school children. The anthropometric assessment was completed at school. Obesity was defined as a weight for height > or = 2 s.d. using the French weight charts for French children based on sex and height. Interviews of the parents recorded parental overweight and child birth overweight as 'constitutional' factors and family structure, socio-economic level and daily lifestyle (sleep, TV viewing, after school care, etc.) as 'environmental' factors. The results show that parental overweight and birth overweight are closely related to the child's obesity at five years of age (estimated relative risks 3.1 and 2.4 respectively). The environmental factors which contribute to child obesity are: southern European origin of the mother, snacks, excessive television viewing and, more importantly, short sleep duration (estimated relative risks = 1.9, 1.3, 2.1 and 4.9 respectively). A logistic regression model, after taking parental overweight into account, shows that the relationship between obesity and short sleep duration persists independently of television viewing. The hypotheses raised by these findings are discussed.