School of Statistics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Theoretical Teaching and Research Section, College of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Sep 3;18(17):9334. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18179334.
The prevalence of obesity among preschool children has risen dramatically due to the influx of Western fast food in China. In this study, we aimed to provide clear evidence on the associations between fast-food restaurants and childhood obesity. We collected and combined three unique cross-sectional datasets: physical fitness data, geographic information, and the financial data of each kindergarten. The two-stage least squares were used for empirical analyses. The final data including 75,730 children were from 785 kindergartens in 82 cities and 23 provinces in China in 2018. The mean age of participants was 4.94 ± 0.87; 34,249 (45.2%) females and 41,481 (54.8%) males. The number of fast-food restaurants within 1, 2, and 3 km radii had a significant and positive correlation with obesity, and this correlation decreased as the radius increased. Furthermore, the distance to the nearest fast-food restaurant had a significant and negative correlation with obesity. Western fast-food restaurants contributed more to obesity than the broader definition of fast-food restaurants. There was marked heterogeneity between urban and rural areas. Our findings documented that fast-food restaurants had a significant and positive association with childhood obesity, thus the restriction of fast-food restaurants surrounding kindergartens might be considered.
由于西方快餐在中国的涌入，学龄前儿童肥胖的患病率急剧上升。在这项研究中，我们旨在提供关于快餐店与儿童肥胖之间关联的明确证据。我们收集并合并了三个独特的横截面数据集：体能数据、地理位置和每个幼儿园的财务数据。使用两阶段最小二乘法进行实证分析。最终数据包括 2018 年来自中国 82 个城市的 785 所幼儿园的 75730 名儿童。参与者的平均年龄为 4.94±0.87；女性 34249 人（45.2%），男性 41481 人（54.8%）。1、2 和 3 公里半径内快餐店的数量与肥胖呈显著正相关，且随着半径的增加，相关性降低。此外，到最近快餐店的距离与肥胖呈显著负相关。西式快餐店比快餐的广义定义更能导致肥胖。城乡之间存在明显的异质性。我们的研究结果表明，快餐店与儿童肥胖之间存在显著的正相关，因此可以考虑限制幼儿园周围的快餐店。
