Influence of Parental and Some Demographic Characteristics on Overweight/Obesity Status among a Sample of Egyptian Children

Abstract

BACKGROUND:Overweight/obesity is a multi-factorial problem, which results from rapidly changing social, economic, and physical environments that have led to an energy imbalance.AIM:To identify the association between childhood overweight/obesity and some socio-demographic risk factors, as parental age, body mass index (BMI), education and occupation, family size and residence (urban/rural).SUBJECTS AND METHODS:Cross-sectional study included 154 children of both sexes; aged 5-18 years; with their parents; one of them was working at the National Research Centre and from their relatives and neighbours. Data was collected about the child birth weight, family size, parental ages, education, occupation and place of residence. Anthropometric measurements including weight, height, and body mass index (BMI) of children and their parents were conducted.RESULTS:Obesity was detected among 19.5% of children (BMI > 95th percentile), 75.3% of their mothers and 49.6% of their fathers (BMI > 30 Kg/m^2). While overweight was present in 11.0% of the children (BMI > 85th- <95 percentile), 16.9% of their mothers and 36.5% of their fathers (BMI > 25-29.9 Kg/m^2). Child obesity was more prominent in urban than rural areas (21.3% versus 12.5%) and among housewives (22.8%) than among working mothers (16%, p < 0.016). Child overweight was more common in rural than urban areas (12.5% versus 10.7%) and among children with high father education (20%). Child BMI had significant positive correlations only with the child age, parental ages and BMIs, and family size. In spite of that, parental BMIs had significant positive correlations with each other and with family size, and significant negative correlations with maternal education and occupation and paternal education.CONCLUSION:Childhood obesity and overweight were more prominent in urban than rural areas, among children with non-working housewives mothers and highly educated fathers (college or above). Parental education and occupation had an indirect significant effect on child BMI through their significant effect on parental BMIs.

Prevalence and Correlates of Overweight and Obesity among School Children in Sohag, Egypt

“…Meanwhile our results agree with [16] in Egypt and [17] in Turkey. This could be explained by the fact that more than 70% of the studied children are below or around 10 years.…”

“…Absence of public awareness about healthy nutrition may explain prevalence of obesity among children of mothers with low level of education. On the contrary, maternal occupation showed no significant association with childhood obesity in agreement with [14] [17] and [23] while [16] and [18] disagreed with us. Several previous studies reported the protective role of breast feeding against childhood overweight and obesity.…”

“…Significant association was also found between the level of maternal education and childhood overweight and obesity, 25% of children whose mothers had primary education were obese compared with only 10% of those whose mothers finished the faculty. This agrees with [17] and disagrees with [16] and [22]. Absence of public awareness about healthy nutrition may explain prevalence of obesity among children of mothers with low level of education.…”

Prevalence of Underweight and Overweight and Its Association with Physical Fitness in Egyptian Schoolchildren

“…In Egypt, several studies have examined the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity in some regions in Egypt, such as Cairo [10], Sohaj [2], Assiut [11], Menoufia [3], Sharkia [12], and Port Said [13]. However, none of these previous studies have investigated the prevalence of both overweight and underweight at different periods of childhood or compared them between males and females.…”

Risk Factors for Obesity in Adolescents of Ethnic Groups in Rural Areas of the Republic of Buryatia: a Cross-Sectional Study

“…Эти связи подтвердили свою независимую значимость и после корректировки для ИМТ матерей подростков. Связь ожирения у детей с нали-чием неработающих матерей также показана в популя-ционном исследовании детей в Египте [20], но результаты других исследований, напротив, свидетельствуют о том, что вероятность ожирения у ребенка тем выше, чем доль-ше времени проводит на работе его мать [21,22]. Что касается ассоциации ожирения с проживанием ребенка в неполной семье, то подобная связь была показана в исследовании А. В. Солнцевой и соавт.…”