[Family risk factors of overweight and obesity in preschool children].
OBJECTIVE
To explore family risk factors of overweight and obesity focusing on parental characteristics, feeding practice and lifestyle.


METHODS
Five kindergartens were selected randomly from two of all the six urban districts in Beijing. The body height and weight of all the children in the 5 kindergartens were measured in light clothing and without shoes. Information on parental characteristics, dietary habits, lifestyle, and feeding practice was collected from 1173 families by parental self-report questionnaires in the 5 kindergartens. Overweight and obesity were defined according to sex- and age-specific body mass index (BMI) cut-points proposed by the International Obesity Task Force. Correlations and multivariate regression analysis was used to explore risk factors of child overweight and obesity.


RESULTS
The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 6.9% and 4.1%, respectively, among the sample children. Significantly more overweight and obese children were from obese families (15.2%) than they were from non-obese families (7.5%). Significant associations could be observed between children and parents' characteristics for BMI, frequency of eating in restaurant, television-watching hours, and physical activity hours. Parental obesity, low maternal education level and television watching for > 2 h/d were risk factors of child overweight and obesity after adjusting for sex, age, family income, and kindergarten.


CONCLUSIONS
Child overweight and obesity were influenced by family environment. Strategies for prevention should include identified family risk factors.
Jiang
Jing-xiong
JX
National Center for Women's and Children's Health, Beijing 100013, China.
Xing
Gui-ru
GR
Wang
Hui-shan
HS
Ma
Yi
Y
Gong
Li-min
LM
Xu
Li
L
D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015444:Exercise; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010290:Parents; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013690:Television