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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
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Comorbidities of overweight/obesity in Australian preschoolers: a cross-sectional population study

M Wake1, P Hardy, M G Sawyer

  • 1Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia. melissa.wake@rch.org.au

Archives of Disease in Childhood
|January 26, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Parents reported few additional health burdens for overweight preschoolers, despite high prevalence. Parental concern about child weight was low, even for obese children, and unrelated to health issues.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Obesity Research
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Childhood obesity is a growing public health concern.
  • Understanding parental perception of health in relation to child body mass index (BMI) is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the association between body mass index (BMI) status and health indicators in Australian preschoolers.
  • To investigate parental concern regarding child weight and its relation to health outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) (n=4934).
  • Classified child BMI using International Obesity TaskForce (IOTF) cutpoints.
  • Assessed health outcomes (global health, quality of life, mental health, asthma, sleep, injuries, special health care needs) and parental concern via parent-report, adjusting for sociodemographics.

Main Results:

  • 15.3% of children were overweight and 5.2% were obese.
  • Overweight and obese children had higher odds of special health care needs (aOR 1.72).
  • Parental concern was significantly higher in obese children (52.7%) but unrelated to specific health problems.

Conclusions:

  • Preschoolers with overweight/obesity experienced minimal additional health burdens reported by parents.
  • A notable gap exists between public concern and parental concern regarding their own child's weight status.
  • Findings highlight the need to address parental awareness and perception of childhood overweight/obesity.
Abstract

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