title: School level correlates with adiposity in 9-10 year old children.
abstract: We examined the associations between the physical, social, and policy environments of schools and adiposity in 9-10 year old children in Norfolk, UK. The relationships between 56 school-level variables and Fat Mass Index (FMI; fat mass (kg)/height (m(2))) were investigated among 1724 well characterised children from 92 schools in this cross-sectional study. After stepwise removal of variables from multilevel linear regression models stratified by gender, only three variables were significantly associated with FMI. Among girls, attending a school with more pupils in the year group was associated with lower FMI, and attending a school with better cycle provision was associated with higher FMI. In boys being allowed to eat any food at break-time was associated with higher FMI. There was some evidence of moderation of the relationship between cycle provision and FMI by urban-rural location. These data suggest that few school factors are associated with FMI, and provide limited pointers to inform potential future school-based interventions to reduce obesity.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. flo.harrison@uea.ac.uk
authors.forename: Flo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bentham
authors.forename: Andrew P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Aedín
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cassidy
authors.forename: Esther M F
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: van Sluijs
authors.forename: Simon J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Griffin
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology