Overweight among Four-Year-Old Children in Relation to Early Growth Characteristics and Socioeconomic Factors

Abstract

Objectives. To assess early growth characteristics and socioeconomic factors of children in relation to body mass index (BMI) and presence of overweight among four-year-old children. Methods. Two Child Health Centres (CHC) participated in the study. They were selected to obtain two populations of children featuring divergent socio-economic characteristics. Growth data registered at the CHCs from birth to the 4-year check-up were recovered. Overweight was defined by the BMI cut-offs established by IOTF. BMI values expressed as BMI standard deviation score (BMISDS) were used for analysis. Results. At the 4-year check-up, the BMISDS and the proportion of children with overweight (including the obese) were significantly higher in the district with lower socio-economic status. High BMI at birth and low socio-economic status of the population in the CHC-district were shown to be independent determinants for overweight and BMISDS at four years of age. Conclusions. More research is needed to understand the mechanisms and how intervention programs should be designed in order to prevent the development of overweight and obesity in children.

Children younger than 7 years with type 1 diabetes are less physically active than healthy controls

“…The difference in BMI‐SDS between the children with diabetes and the controls might be the result of a self‐selection bias in the control group, as the prevalence of overweight and obesity were lower than expected in the control group. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among 4‐year old children in the catchment area of this study is 17.5% (28). In our study, girls were the main contributors to the higher frequency of overweight in the diabetes group.…”

Shared Patterns of Daily Occupations among Parents of Children Aged 4–6 Years Old with Obesity

“…Research shows that long work hours or unusual work schedules often lead to conflicts that are related to time away from the family (Gallew & Mu, 2004;Greenhaus, Collins, & Shaw, 2002). Conversely, Thompson and Bunderson (2001) found that workers who spend more time on family roles experience higher quality of life than those who spend more time on work roles. Even if the previously mentioned studies have contributed important information on quality of life among parents, they do not provide insights and understanding of parents' shared patterns of daily occupations in the course of a day's 24 hours and how children are involved.…”

“…Accordingly it was suggested that the Swedish Child Health Centers (CHC) should focus their efforts on preventing childhood obesity (Huus et al, 2007). As preventive interventions should start in early life, studies of families with preschool children are of particular interest (Thorn, Waller, Johansson, & Mårild, 2010). However, more research is needed in this area to understand the mechanisms of temporal coordination in daily occupations.…”

Fatty fish intake in mothers during pregnancy and in their children in relation to the development of obesity and overweight in childhood: The prospective ABIS study

“…Moreover, childhood obesity is related to metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance, hypertension, serum lipid abnormalities, disease in almost every organ system and, in later life, physical and psychosocial problems . The prevalence of overweight and obesity defined according to Cole et al among Swedish preschool children born between 1997 and 2002 has been reported to be 12.9% to 22.3% …”