Abstract
Objective: To investigate whether a healthy lifestyle is associated with the lower childhood obesity regardless of birth weight.Methods: Participants were selected from a large-scale cross-sectional study conducted in the seven provinces across China. Birth weight and lifestyle factors were collected through a questionnaire. A weighted healthy lifestyle score was calculated and categorized into favorable, intermediate, and unfavorable lifestyles.Results: A total of 47,768 participants were enrolled in this study. Overall, 16.4% of the participants followed a favorable lifestyle, 62.8% followed an intermediate lifestyle, and 20.8% followed an unfavorable lifestyle. Compared with the participants who were born normal birth weight (NBW), participants who were born high birth weight (HBW) (OR = 1.58; 95% CI 1.48–1.77) and very high birth weight (VHBW) (OR = 1.79; 95% CI: 1.47–2.18) had higher obesity risk, however, the participants who were born low birth weight (LBW) had lower obesity risk (OR = 0.81; 95% CI: 0.68–0.96). Participants with an unfavorable lifestyle were associated with a higher risk of childhood obesity compared with the participants with favorable lifestyle (OR = 1.25; 95%CI: 1.14–1.38). Participants who were born VHBW and with an unfavorable lifestyle had 2.76 times (95% CI: 1.78–4.28) further risk of childhood obesity compared with the participants who were born NBW and with a favorable lifestyle. However, adherence to a favorable lifestyle seems to counteract the elevated risk of childhood obesity by VHBW (OR = 1.37; 95% CI: 0.84–2.24).Conclusion: Both the HBW and unfavorable lifestyle were significantly associated with risk of childhood obesity. Adherence to a favorable lifestyle decreased the risk of childhood obesity among the participants with VHBW. A more longitudinal study is required to repeat the finding to inform tailored prevention programs.
Highlights
Childhood obesity is a major health problem both in the developed and developing countries [1]
The distribution of sex, region, healthy diet, regular screen time, the number of healthy lifestyle factors, birth weight category, and obesity of the mother was different between obesity and non-obesity (P < 0.05)
Adherence to a favorable lifestyle seems to counteract the elevated risk of childhood obesity by very high birth weight (VHBW) (OR = 1.37; 95% CI: 0.84–2.24)
Summary
Childhood obesity is a major health problem both in the developed and developing countries [1]. In the United States, the prevalence of obesity was 16.9% (95% CI, 14.9–19.2%) in children and adolescents aged 2–19 years [2]. The prevalence of childhood obesity has substantially increased over the past 30 years in China. Crosssectional surveys of the Chinese National Survey on Students’ Constitution and Health from 1985 to 2014, overweight and obesity prevalence continually increased from 1.1% in 1985 to 20.4% in 2014 in Chinese school-aged children [3]. Childhood obesity has significantly adverse effect on both the physical and psychological health [4].
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