Evans W Douglas, Finkelstein Eric A, Kamerow Douglas B, Renaud Jeanette M
RTI International, Washington, DC, USA.
Am J Prev Med. 2005 Jan;28(1):26-32. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2004.09.008.
Obesity has been identified as an epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rates of unhealthy body weight among children and adolescents have tripled since the 1980s to 15%. Media coverage of obesity has also increased, and the public is now highly aware of obesity-related health threats facing adults and children.
RTI International sponsored a representative survey of U.S. households (n =1047) that included detailed questions about perceptions of the severity, causes, and public support for specific intervention strategies to combat childhood obesity. Logistic regressions were calculated to examine differences in support by sociodemographic characteristics.
Respondents considered childhood obesity to be as serious as other major childhood health threats, such as tobacco use and violence, but not as serious as drug abuse. They supported most school-, community-, and media-based strategies that involved offering health information, limiting unhealthy food promotion, and increasing healthy nutrition and physical activity choices, but were generally opposed to regulatory and tax- or cost-based interventions. Logistic regressions revealed significantly greater support for some interventions among highly educated individuals and women, and lower support among parents with children at home.
This study demonstrates that there is strong public support for interventions aimed at reducing overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. It also shows specific school, community, and media interventions that the public supports and opposes, and what consequences the public will accept in combating childhood obesity. These findings can help policymakers and public health professionals design and implement appropriate interventions.
美国疾病控制与预防中心已将肥胖认定为一种流行病。自20世纪80年代以来，儿童和青少年中超重的比例增长了两倍，达到了15%。媒体对肥胖问题的报道也有所增加，公众现在已经高度意识到成年人和儿童面临的与肥胖相关的健康威胁。
RTI国际组织发起了一项针对美国家庭的代表性调查（n = 1047），其中包括关于对儿童肥胖严重程度、成因的看法以及对对抗儿童肥胖的特定干预策略的公众支持度的详细问题。通过逻辑回归分析来研究社会人口统计学特征在支持度方面的差异。
受访者认为儿童肥胖与其他主要的儿童健康威胁，如吸烟和暴力一样严重，但不如药物滥用严重。他们支持大多数基于学校、社区和媒体的策略，这些策略包括提供健康信息、限制不健康食品的推广以及增加健康营养和体育活动的选择，但普遍反对监管以及基于税收或成本的干预措施。逻辑回归分析显示，受过高等教育的人和女性对某些干预措施的支持度明显更高，而家中有孩子的父母支持度较低。
本研究表明，公众大力支持旨在减少儿童和青少年超重及肥胖的干预措施。研究还显示了公众支持和反对的具体学校、社区及媒体干预措施，以及公众在对抗儿童肥胖问题上会接受何种后果。这些研究结果有助于政策制定者和公共卫生专业人员设计和实施适当的干预措施。
