title: Baseline measures for a school-based obesity control programme: Project Energize: differences by ethnicity, rurality, age and school socio-economic status.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  School-based interventions to tackle the rise in childhood overweight and obesity remain inconclusive and are often limited in their application to diverse populations. To inform and measure the effect of the implementation of a primary school-based longitudinal randomised controlled nutrition and activity intervention, Project Energize, baseline measures of body size and blood pressure were required.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study stratified by age, sex, ethnicity, rurality and school socio-economic-status (school-SES) measured body mass index (BMI), percentage body fat (%BF), waist and resting blood pressure from 2752 5- and 10-year-old children (62% European, 31% Māori) representative of the Waikato region of New Zealand.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Waikato children have a high prevalence of overweight and obesity that is linked with hypertension. Cardiovascular risk factors including raised blood pressure and hypertension, waist and arm circumference and percentage body fat (%BF) were more prevalent in 10-year-olds, lower school-SES and to some extent, urban living. In European children, BMI and waist circumference were similarly predictive of %BF, but for Māori children, waist circumference predicted %BF better than BMI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A variety of stratified, baseline measurements is important when designing school-based interventions. In particular, waist circumference measures may be a more accurate predictor of %BF than BMI when determining measurement protocols that consider different ethnic groups and environments among children. The effect of targeted improvements of the school physical activity and nutrition environment on the rate of increase of weight, fatness and blood pressure in children should be examined.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. elaine.rush@aut.ac.nz
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rush
authors.forename: Peter W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Simmons
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Coppinger
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McLennan
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Graham
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy; D015995:Prevalence; D012423:Rural Health; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012923:Social Class; D014504:Urban Health; D055105:Waist Circumference; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data