Overweight and obesity in an ethnically diverse rural school district: the Healthy Kids Project.
OBJECTIVE
Data on Native American children and adolescents are rarely reported along with other racial and ethnic groups. The Healthy Kids Project is part of an effort to describe the prevalence of overweight and obesity in a racially mixed rural area where Native American, Hispanic, African American, and white children reside.


METHODS
We measured height and weight of students in Anadarko, Oklahoma public schools (n = 1,980) in 2002-2003. All available students (95.7%) whose parents had not opted out of school health assessments were included. From these data, we calculated BMI (weight (kg) / height (m(2))) and used the International Obesity Task Force reference to classify children into BMI categories.


RESULTS
Native American, Hispanic, African American, and white children who live and attend school in the same surroundings are at risk of overweight and obesity. White children had the lowest combined prevalence of overweight and obesity (37.6%), and Native American children had the highest (53.8%) followed closely by African American (51.7%) and Hispanic children (50.5%).


CONCLUSIONS
The childhood obesity epidemic includes all racial and ethnic groups to different degrees. In a rural public school, Native American, Hispanic, and African children had higher rates of overweight/obesity than white children.
Eichner
June E
JE
University of Oklahoma Prevention Research Center, College of Public Health, Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA. June-Eichner@ouhsc.edu
Moore
William E
WE
Perveen
Ghazala
G
Kobza
Cee E
CE
Abbott
Kathryn E
KE
Stephens
Aietah L
AL
D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000208:ethnology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology*; D009825:Oklahoma; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D044465:White People / Q000208:ethnology