[Overweight and obesity among parents and their 13-old children in Poland]

To examine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among parents and their 13-year-old children in Poland, and relationships between parental and child obesity.

The study was conducted in 2008 as a part of prospective cohort follow-up study from 1995. The sample included 579 children (289 girls, 290 boys), their parents (549 mothers, 487 fathers). Parental height and weight were self-reported. Height and weight of children were performed by school nurses. IOTF criteria was used to determine overweight and obesity in children. For adults overweight was defined as BMI > or = 25.0 and obesity BMI > or = 30.0. The relation of parental-child overweight was tested by the odds ratio (OR).

The prevalence of overweight was 43.4% for mothers and 71% for fathers (p < 0.001), including obesity respectively 12.3% and 20.3%, more often among rural mothers (48.1%) than urban (38.5%) (p = 0.69). Prevalence of childhood overweight was 16.7% for boys and 13.5% for girls, obesity respectively 2.4% and 1.0%. Overweight was observed more often in urban than rural areas, respectively 17.1% and 13.3%. OR for child hood overweight was the highest when both parents were overweight OR = 3.90 (1.57-9.72), when the mother alone was overweight OR = 2.55 (1.56-4.16), when father alone--OR = 2.10 (1.09-4.05).

Overweight and obesity is a family problem. In the obesity prevention, interventions should be directed towards the entire family.