title: Factors associated with overweight and obesity among children of Mexican descent: results of a binational study.
abstract: The prevalence of childhood obesity is high among young children of Mexican origin in the United States, however, the determinants are poorly understood. We conducted a binational study with a sample from California (CA) and Mexico (MX), to identify and compare the most important factors associated with overweight and obesity among children of Mexican descent. Significantly more children were classified as overweight or obese in CA compared to MX (53.3 vs. 14.9%, P < 0.01). In CA and MX, having an obese mother was significantly associated with being overweight or obese. In MX, male gender, high socioeconomic status and very low food insecurity were associated with being overweight or obese. These data offer hypotheses for how migration may influence the high prevalence of overweight among the Mexican children in California.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA. rosasl@fcm.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Lisa G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Rosas
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guendelman
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harley
authors.forename: Lia C H
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Fernald
authors.forename: Lynnette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Neufeld
authors.forename: Fabiola
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mejia
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eskenazi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000208:ethnology; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*