[Maternal overweight and obesity in Mexican school-age children. National Nutrition Survey, 1999].
OBJECTIVE
To assess the effects of maternal overweight and obesity as risk factors for overweight and obesity in Mexican school-age children (5 to 11 years old) who participated in the National Nutrition Survey 1999 (NNS-99).


METHODS
Information obtained by the NNS-99 was used to evaluate the relationship between maternal overweight and obesity and overweight or obesity in school-age children. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used.


RESULTS
A total of 9 259 children were studied. The prevalence of overweight or obesity was 19%, according to the criteria suggested by Cole.Thirty-nine percent of mothers were overweight and 26.4% were obese. After controlling for age, gender, and other sociodemographic characteristics, children of overweight mothers had a 1.9 times higher risk of being obese (95%CI 1.62-2.18), and children of obese mothers had a 3.4 times higher risk of being obese (95%CI 2.96-4.00), compared to children of mothers with normal BMI.


CONCLUSIONS
Maternal overweight and obesity are risk factors for overweight or obesity in Mexican school-age children. Interventions to prevent obesity in children should be aimed towards promoting family lifestyle changes and modifying obesigenic environments.
Flores
Mario
M
Departamento de Dieta y Enfermedades Crónicas, Centro de Investigación en Nutrición y Salud, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México.
Carrión
Citlalli
C
Barquera
Simón
S
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D009035:Mothers; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight; D012307:Risk Factors