Correlates of childhood obesity in Athens, Greece.

OBJECTIVE

Childhood obesity is a growing public health problem. We have examined the association between sociodemographic profile and eating and physical activity patterns with overweight among primary-school students in Athens, Greece.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Eleven primary schools in the greater Athens area, Greece.

SUBJECTS

A total of 633 children aged 10-12 years (50 % boys, 50 % girls) were interviewed in person during spring 2003. Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate the association between eating and physical activity patterns and overweight (> or =85th sex- and age-specific BMI centile). Results are presented as odds ratios and 95 % confidence intervals.

RESULTS

Overweight was more common among girls than among boys (OR=1.73; 95% CI 1.11, 2.69) and substantially less common among children born outside Greece (OR=0.46; CI 0.22, 0.95). Reported physical activity (per 1.5 h per day) was unrelated to overweight (OR=0.97; CI 0.85, 1.12) but patent physical inactivity, operationalised as time spent watching television or working/playing with the computer (per 1.5 h per day) was a highly significant predictor of overweight (OR=1.20; CI 1.05, 1.36). Composition of diet was unrelated to overweight but the daily number of eating occasions, controlling for total energy intake, was significantly inversely associated with overweight (OR=0.61; CI 0.48, 0.76).

CONCLUSIONS

The principal factor underlying overweight among children in Athens appears to be the extended inactivity imposed by modern childhood lifestyles. An intriguing finding is that spreading a given energy intake over several eating occasions was inversely associated with the likelihood of childhood obesity.