title: [Relationship between maternal nutritional status and obesity in Brazilian children].
abstract: The relationship between maternal (age between 20 and 50 years) nutritional status (NS) and children's (age < 10 years) obesity level was studied in a probabilistic sample of the Brazilian population of all ages (n = 63,213) conducted in 1989. Maternal NS was classified as underweight (UW-Body mass index (BMI) < 20 kg.m-2), normal (20 < or = BMI < 25) and overweight (OW, BMI < or = 25). Overweight was identified in children with body mass of stature > or = + 2 standard deviations of the American growth reference curve (NCHS). There were a total of 12,414 mother-child pairs. OW was observed in 4.8% of the children. UW and OW were seen in 15.3 and 35.9% of the mothers, respectively. With the UW mothers as reference, the odds ratio (OR) of a child being obese and his/her mother's NS being normal or OW was 2.5 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.7-3.5) and 3.2 (2.2-4.5), respectively. This relationship was influenced by maternal education, OR = 2.9 (1.7-4.8) for mothers with 12 years of education in relation of the ones without any formal education and family per capita income, OR = 3.8 (2.8-5.2) for mothers in the 4th in relation to those in the 1st quartile. These data suggest a positive relationship between maternal and child obesity in the Brazilian population.
authors.affiliation: Saúde do Rio de Janeiro, PAISMCA, Rio de Janeiro, RJ-Brasil.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Engstrom
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Anjos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors