Hawkins S S, Cole T J, Law C
Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics, UCL Institute of Child Health, London, UK.
Int J Obes (Lond). 2008 Jan;32(1):30-8. doi: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0803682. Epub 2007 Jul 17.
In most developed countries, maternal employment has increased rapidly. Changing patterns of family life have been suggested to be contributing to the rising prevalence of childhood obesity.
Our primary objective was to examine the relationship between maternal and partner employment and overweight in children aged 3 years. Our secondary objective was to investigate factors related to early childhood overweight only among mothers in employment.
Cohort study.
A total of 13 113 singleton children aged 3 years in the Millennium Cohort Study, born between 2000 and 2002 in the United Kingdom, who had complete height/weight data and parental employment histories.
Parents were interviewed when the child was aged 9 months and 3 years, and the child's height and weight were measured at 3 years. Overweight (including obesity) was defined by the International Obesity Task Force cut-offs.
A total of 23% (3085) of children were overweight at 3 years. Any maternal employment after the child's birth was associated with early childhood overweight (odds ratio (OR) [95% confidence interval (CI)]; 1.14 [1.00, 1.29]), after adjustment for potential confounding and mediating factors. Children were more likely to be overweight for every 10 h a mother worked per week (OR [95% CI]; 1.10 [1.04, 1.17]), after adjustment. An interaction with household income revealed that this relationship was only significant for children from households with an annual income of pound33 000 ($57 750) or higher. There was no evidence for an association between early childhood overweight and whether or for how many hours the partner worked, or with mothers' or partners' duration of employment. These relationships were also evident among mothers in employment. Independent risk factors for early childhood overweight were consistent with the published literature.
Long hours of maternal employment, rather than lack of money may impede young children's access to healthy foods and physical activity. Policies supporting work-life balance may help parents reduce potential barriers.
在大多数发达国家,母亲就业情况迅速增加。家庭生活模式的变化被认为是导致儿童肥胖患病率上升的原因之一。
我们的主要目标是研究母亲和伴侣就业与3岁儿童超重之间的关系。我们的次要目标是仅在就业母亲中调查与幼儿超重相关的因素。
队列研究。
千禧队列研究中共有13113名单胎3岁儿童,他们于2000年至2002年在英国出生,拥有完整的身高/体重数据和父母就业史。
当孩子9个月和3岁时对父母进行访谈,并在孩子3岁时测量其身高和体重。超重(包括肥胖)由国际肥胖特别工作组的标准界定。
共有23%(3085)的儿童在3岁时超重。在对潜在的混杂和中介因素进行调整后,孩子出生后母亲的任何就业情况都与幼儿超重相关(优势比(OR)[95%置信区间(CI)];1.14 [1.00, 1.29])。调整后,母亲每周每多工作10小时,孩子超重的可能性就增加(OR [95% CI];1.10 [1.04, 1.17])。与家庭收入的交互作用表明,这种关系仅在年收入为33000英镑(57750美元)或更高的家庭中的孩子中显著。没有证据表明幼儿超重与伴侣是否工作或工作时长,以及母亲或伴侣的就业时长之间存在关联。这些关系在就业母亲中也很明显。幼儿超重的独立危险因素与已发表的文献一致。
母亲长时间就业,而非缺钱,可能会妨碍幼儿获得健康食品和进行体育活动。支持工作与生活平衡的政策可能有助于父母减少潜在障碍。