OBESITY IN 10-YEAR-OLDS - EPIDEMIOLOGIC-STUDY

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  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 64  (5) , 564-572
Abstract
With a multifactorial pathogenetic model (heredity vs. environment, central nervous control, energy balance, morphology of the fat tissue), the relative importance of the various factors to the origin of overweight and obesity in school children was assessed. From an original sample of 972 children followed longitudinally from the ages of 7 to 16 yr, and with retrospective weight data from age 1 yr, 550 were selected at age 10 yr. Information concerning the children''s habits (physical activity and appetite), social conditions, and parental heights and weights were obtained from the parents by questionnaire (response rate 94%). A multiple regression analysis showed the following results. Clear-cut sex differences were observed. Heredity and physical inactivity had the greatest explanatory power for both overweight and obesity at 10 yr in girls, whereas appetite and environmental conditions were more prominent predictors in boys. An analysis of the main predictors of the variable change in relative weight between 7-10 yr, a variable with possible implications for preventive school programs, indicated that markedly inactive-only children from lower class families are particularly at risk of developing obesity during the 1st years at school. In the absence of all the risk factors considered in this study, obesity does not occur. At the other extreme, even a high risk score still implies a 50% chance of escaping the fate of obesity.