title: Child care: implications for overweight / obesity in Canadian children?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Over recent decades, two prominent trends have been observed in Canada and elsewhere: increasing prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity, and increasing participation of women (including mothers) in the paid labour force and resulting demand for child care options. While an association between child care and children's body mass index (BMI) is plausible and would have policy relevance, its existence and nature in Canada is not known.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, we examined exposure to three types of care at age 2/3 years (care by non-relative, care by relative, care in a daycare centre) in relation to change in BMI percentile (continuous and categorical) between age 2/3 years and age 6/7 years, adjusting for health and sociodemographic correlates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Care by a non-relative was associated with an increase in BMI percentile between age 2/3 years and age 6/7 years for boys, and for girls from households of low income adequacy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Considering the potential benefits of high-quality formal child care for an array of health and social outcomes and the potentially adverse effects of certain informal care options demonstrated in this study and others, our findings support calls for ongoing research on the implications of diverse child care experiences for an array of outcomes including those related to weight.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. lmclaren@ucalgary.ca
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McLaren
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zarrabi
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Dutton
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Auld
authors.forename: J C H
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Emery
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors