title: Frequency of under- and overweight among children and adolescents during the economic transition in Poland.
abstract: The aim of this study is to examine the prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity, using International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) criteria, in four cohorts of children and adolescents living in Poland in different economic eras: communist economy (1977/1978), crisis of the 1980s (1987/1988), political and economic transformation (1992/1994) and the free market economy (2002/2004). Analysis was conducted on a database including 10,934 records for children of the age 7-18 years. In Poland, in the last 26 years of economic and political transformations, the epidemic of obesity was not noticed but the growing incidence of children and adolescents with body mass deficit was observed (p<0.0001) (20.2% of girls in 2002/2004 vs. 11.0% in 1977/1978 and 12.1% of boys in 2002/2004 vs. 7.2% in 1977/1978). Lower parental education and a higher number of children in a family resulted in a higher prevalence of underweight (odds ratio [OR] fluctuated from 1.26 to 1.63). The social effects of the political transformation in Poland significantly affected families with low socio-economic status (SES), and especially more eco-sensitive boys. This result is opposite to the trends observed in Western countries and makes an important contribution to the current knowledge of the course of further changes in weight-to-height ratio at a global scale.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Łódź, 90-237 Łódź, Poland. e.zadzinska@biol.uni.lodz.pl
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ządzińska
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rosset
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kozieł
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nawarycz
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Borowska-Strugińska
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lorkiewicz
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ostrowska-Nawarycz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sitek
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history; D050177:Overweight / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000266:history; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D011057:Politics; D012923:Social Class / Q000266:history; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors / Q000266:history; D013851:Thinness / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000266:history