Obesity indices in a cohort of primary school children in Crete: a six year prospective study

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To report on the body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and sum of skinfolds in a cohort of Cretan children and identify the factors associated with these indices. DESIGN: The present study was a follow-up study. Children were measured prospectively at ages 6, 9 and 12. SUBJECTS: Pupils came from 40 schools randomly selected from the 541 primary schools in three different provinces of Crete. 1046 pupils were examined at age 6. At age 9, a representative sample from the original cohort (n 579) was randomly selected for re-evaluation. At the age of 12, a sample of 831 pupils was re-examined, following similar procedures. MEASUREMENTS: Both during baseline and each subsequent follow-up, data were obtained on pupils' anthropometry, serum lipids, dietary intake, physical ®tness and physical activity as well as their dietary and their health knowledge. Data on parents' anthropometry, age, occupation, educational level, and issues relating to health habits, attitudes and knowledge were also collected. RESULTS: Half of the obese children at age 6 were also obese at age 12. Cretan children had higher mean BMI than similar American cohorts. Compared to their American counterparts, Cretans had higher proportions of overweight in both genders across all ages tested. The endurance run test (ERT), an index of physical ®tness, was positively associated with obesity indices. Sum of skinfolds related positively to serum LDL-C. Children from urban areas had higher skinfold sums than children from rural areas. Parental health-related hedonism related positively to children's BMI. CONCLUSION: It appears that these ®ndings offer some support to the reported increasing prevalence of obesity among Greek children. Higher ERT, presumably re¯ecting higher physical activity, is associated with lower obesity. The relationship between degree of fatness and LDL-C appears to be evidenced at an early age in life. This relationship may relate to the reported VLDL and cholesteryl ester transfer protein elevations in obesity. The parental attitude of health-related hedonism appears to be linked with children's adiposity.

Relations between obesity and hypertension: preliminary data from a cross-sectional study in primary schoolchildren: The children study

“…These prevalence rates are higher compared to those reported by other earlier studies conducted among children and adolescents in south (Mamalakis et al, 2000), central (Manios et al, 2004) and north districts of the Greek territory (Krassas et al, 2001b), as well as those reported for other developed countries (Chinn and Rona, 2001;Flegal et al, 2001;Ogden et al, 2002;Booth et al, 2003). Similarly, the prevalence of hypertension was found to be equally high, exceeding the rates reported for respective age groups in Greece (Bouziotas et al, 2004;Papadopoulou-Alataki et al, 2004) and other developed countries (McCarron et al, 2002).…”

“…diet and physical activity) (Mamalakis and Kafatos, 1996;Krassas et al, 2001b;Magkos et al, 2005). The determinants of body mass index (BMI) and BP in Greek children and adolescents remain another understudied topic (Mamalakis et al, 2000;Krassas et al, 2001a;Manios et al, 2004). Furthermore, there are no data at all for the less privileged regions of Greece where the prevalence and trends of these clinical and behavioural CVD risk factors might be expected to be higher.…”

Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Greek school-aged children and adolescents

“…Our results on obesity rates are similar to those reported by Krassas et al (2001) for the area of Thessaloniki. On the other hand, significantly higher rates for overweight and obesity were observed in Cretan schoolaged children (Mamalakis et al, 2000). This difference may be because of methodological issues, namely the use of different cutoff points.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, only two studies have investigated the prevalence of obesity among Greek children and adolescents (Mamalakis et al, 2000;Krassas et al, 2001). Their results are fragmentary, drawn from selected areas of Greece, and therefore not representative of the entire population.…”

The high-fat Greek diet: a recipe for all?

“…The BMI of Cretan children and adults has been rising at an amazing rate over the last 30 y (Table 6), and obesity is now of great concern not only in adults but also in children (Mamalakis & Kafatos, 1996;Mamalakis et al, 2000). Recently Trichopoulou et al, (2000) published the first evidence on the BMIs of the Greek cohort of the EPIC study started in 1992 on a nation-wide sample of adult men (n ¼ 5633) and women (n ¼ 8648).…”