title: Is parental body weight related with their children's overweight and obesity in Gao Hang Town, Shanghai?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between parental body weight and their children's overweight and obesity in school students in Gao Hang Town, Shanghai.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was performed in five primary schools in Gao Hang Town, Shanghai. Overall, 2,025 sets of parents and their children (7-13 years, 981 boys/1044 girls) were enrolled. Body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference for each child were measured. Age, gender, birth weight, and breastfeeding history was recorded for each child and the BMI of their parents was obtained by a self-completion questionnaire. Overweight (including obesity) was defined as a BMI of >=24.0 kg/m2 in parents and a BMI >=P85 in children according to age- and gender-specific percentiles. Re-sults: The total prevalence of overweight was higher in boys than in girls (35.5% vs 19.5%), while it was the same in fathers compared with mothers (50.6% vs 18.9%). The prevalence of overweight in boys showed a trend with increasing age, but remained stable versus age in girls. Parents were further divided into four subgroups as follows: I) both father and mother had a normal BMI; II) father overweight, mother normal weight; III) father normal weight, mother overweight; IV) both father and mother are overweight. The odds ratio of overweight was 2.26 for group II, 2.71 for group III, and 4.36 for group IV, respectively, compared with group I. Gender, paternal BMI, and maternal BMI were chosen as risk factors for children overweight.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parental BMI affects their offspring overweight and obesity in Chinese school students.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. Email: wanyp204@163.com.|Shanghai Key Laboratory of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yanping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.|Shanghai Key Laboratory of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Renying
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Haixia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yiquan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xiaomin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, South Campus; Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhiqi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Nutrition, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yingjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D010290:Parents; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires