Study On Incidence And Influencing Factors Of Childhood Obesity Among Children Under 7 Years Old In Urban Qingdao

Objective This study was carried out to explore the prevalence and influencing factors of childhood obesity(CO) among children under 7 years old from urban population in Qingdao city,providing the epidemic evidence for intervention strategy on CO.Methods With a stratified random sampling method,10100 children(5192 males,4908 females) under 7 years old were investigated in 3 urban districts in Qingdao.The height and body weight of the children were measured and evaluated with the reference recommended by the National Center for Health Statistics/Centers for Disease Control (NCHS/CDC).Weight for height was used to define overweight and obesity(whose weight for height ranged 110～119%of the reference were determined as overweight, weight for height≥120%of the reference as obesity).The information on general social and demographic characteristics,perinatal period factors,dietary factors and life style were also inquired by questionnaires from 542 CO cases and 1:1 matched case controls who aged under 7 years.The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics,one-way ANOVA,Chi-square test and binary conditioned logistic regression(COX model).Results The incidence of obesity and overweight in children under 7 years old in Qingdao city was 6.6%,17.8%respectively;Overweight to obesity ratio(0OR) was 2.7;and adiposity rebound age(ARA) was about 4 years.Eight risk factors for CO were identified in multi-factorial conditional logistic regression model at P=0.05 level:high birth-weight (OR=1.826),good appetite(OR=41.602),quickly eating speed(OR=10.998),father overweight(OR=3.315) or longer TV watching(OR=1.423),family's longer living time in Qingdao(OR=1.610),breast-feeding before 4 months old(OR=0.532) and often parent care(OR=0.434). Conclusions1.The childhood obesity under 7 years old was much prevalent in Qingdao city and had become one of the main influencing factors on children health.Obesity in boys was more prevalent than in girls in preschool stage.2.OOR was an appropriate index for predicting trend of obesity in the population.3.The risk factors of CO were associated with status of diet and life style.Nutritional status during pregnancy and early infant feeding,child's eating behavior,whether parents obese,caregivers and family TV habits were found as the characteristic influencing factors on children in Qingdao city.Family diet environment was found as the key factor for occurrence of childhood obesity.4.More attention should be paid to prevent CO during pregnancy,early infancy and toddler stage,and the key period for intervention should be at late infancy and preschool stage.To improve children's eating habits and lifestyle is the main task.5.It should be important for families and communities to exert allied powers to create a reasonable environment and establish an effective intervention protocol on childhood obesity control.