Overweight and lifestyle behaviors of low socioeconomic elementary school children in Buenos Aires.

BACKGROUND

There is growing interest in understanding the role that lifestyle behaviors play in relation to children's weight status. The objective of the study was to determine the association between children s BMI and dietary practices and maternal BMI.

METHODS

330 students (168M) aged 8.9 + 2 y from 4 suburban Buenos Aires elementary schools, and their mothers aged 36.2 + 7 y were examined between April and September 2007. Mothers were asked about their children s lifestyle. Data included parental education levels socioeconomic status, mothers and children s BMI, and Tanner stage.

RESULTS

All families were in the low socio-economic class. 79% of parents had an elementary education or less. 61 (18.5%) of children were obese (OB) (BMI>95%ile per CDC norms), and 53 (16.1%) overweight (OW) (BMI>85<95%ile). 103 (31.2%) of mothers were OB (BMI>30 kg/m2), and 102 (30.9%) OW (BMI>25<30). 63% the children were pre-pubertal. 40% had a TV set in their bedroom. 13% of the children skipped breakfast and only 38% watched TV <or=2 hours daily, as recommended. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed a positive association between children s OW/OB and drinking sweetened beverages (OR = 1.24; 95% CI, 1.02-1.52), TV viewing (OR = 1.30; 95% CI,1.05-1.62), and maternal BMI (OR: 1.07; 95% CI,1.02-1.12), and a negative association with eating breakfast (OR = 0.43; 95% CI, 0.19-0.97) adjusted for fruit and vegetables consumption, milk consumption, maternal educational level and socioeconomic class.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that TV viewing, drinking sweet beverages, skipping breakfast, and maternal BMI are important predictive variables for childhood OW/OB.