Overweight and obesity in Portuguese children: prevalence and correlates.
There are widespread differences in overweight/obesity prevalence in children, and understanding the reasons for this is very important. The present study aims: (I) to conduct a meta-analysis on overweight/obesity prevalence in Portuguese children; (II) to identify differences in biological and behavioural characteristics between normal-weight and overweight/obese children; and (III) to investigate the importance of individual- and school-level correlates of variation in children's BMI using multilevel modelling. A search was done for all published papers including Portuguese children during the last decade; further, 686 Portuguese children (9-11 years old) were sampled and their BMI, family income, maturity offset, nutritional habits, physical activity, sedentariness, sleep time, and school environment information were collected. Results showed a stabilization of overweight/obesity during the last decade, 30.6% (95%CI: 0.287-0.34) for boys, 28.4% (95%CI: 0.23-0.35) for girls, and 30.3% (95%CI: 0.27-0.34) for boys and girls together. Differences between weight groups were only found in individual-level biological traits. The multilevel analysis did not identify significant contributions of school-level variables to children's BMI variation. In conclusion, no increase was found in the prevalence of overweight/obesity among Portuguese children since 2000. Normal-weight and overweight/obese children only differ in individual-level characteristics, and school context variables were not related to variation in BMI.
CIFI<sup>2</sup>D, Kinanthropometry Lab, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Plácido Costa, 91, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal. thayse_natacha@hotmail.com.
Thayse Natacha
TN
Gomes
Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, 6400 Perkins Rd., Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA. Peter.Katzmarzyk@pbrc.edu.
Peter T
PT
Katzmarzyk
CIFI<sup>2</sup>D, Kinanthropometry Lab, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Plácido Costa, 91, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal. fernandak.santos@hotmail.com.
Fernanda K
FK
dos Santos
CIFI<sup>2</sup>D, Kinanthropometry Lab, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Plácido Costa, 91, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal. mcsouza85@hotmail.com.
Michele
M
Souza
CIFI<sup>2</sup>D, Kinanthropometry Lab, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Plácido Costa, 91, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal. sara.s.p@hotmail.com.
Sara
S
Pereira
CIFI<sup>2</sup>D, Kinanthropometry Lab, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Plácido Costa, 91, 4200-450 Porto, Portugal. jmaia@fade.up.pt.
José A R
JA
Maia
D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012574:Schools; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors