Abstract
Background and Aim Overweight prevalence in children and adolescents shows great variability which is related to individual-level and environmental-level factors. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with overweight in Peruvian children and adolescents living at different altitudes. Methods 8568 subjects, aged 6–16 y, from the sea level, Amazon, and high-altitude regions were sampled. Overweight was identified using BMI; biological maturation and physical fitness were measured; school characteristics were assessed via an objective audit. Results Overweight prevalence decreased with age (28.3% at 6 y to 13.9% at 16 y); it was higher in girls (21.7%) than boys (19.8%) and was higher at the sea level (41.3%), compared with Amazon (18.8%) and high-altitude (6.3%) regions. Approximately 79% of the variance in overweight was explained by child-level characteristics. In Model 1, all child-level predictors were significant (p < 0.001); in Model 2, six out of nine added school-level predictors (number of students, existence of policies and practices for physical activity, multisports-roofed, duration of Physical Education classes, and extracurricular activities) were significant (p < 0.001); in Model 3, subjects living at high altitudes were less likely to be overweight than those living at the sea level. Conclusions Child- and school-level variables played important roles in explaining overweight variation. This information should be taken into account when designing more efficient strategies to combat the overweight and obesity epidemic.
Highlights
Background and AimOverweight prevalence in children and adolescents shows great variability which is related to individuallevel and environmental-level factors. e present study aimed to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with overweight in Peruvian children and adolescents living at different altitudes
Descriptive statistics for the school-level variables are presented in Table 5. e number of students in the schools ranged from 96 to 1200; 83.3% of the schools were located in an urban region; 16.7% had policies, and 38.9% had practices for physical activity
E M0 indicated that school-level effects expressed by the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.209, meaning that ∼21% of the total variance in Body mass index (BMI) categories among subjects was at the school level and that ∼79% of the variance was explained by child-level characteristics, respectively
Summary
Background and AimOverweight prevalence in children and adolescents shows great variability which is related to individuallevel and environmental-level factors. e present study aimed to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with overweight in Peruvian children and adolescents living at different altitudes. Overweight prevalence in children and adolescents shows great variability which is related to individuallevel and environmental-level factors. 8568 subjects, aged 6–16 y, from the sea level, Amazon, and high-altitude regions were sampled. Overweight prevalence decreased with age (28.3% at 6 y to 13.9% at 16 y); it was higher in girls (21.7%) than boys (19.8%) and was higher at the sea level (41.3%), compared with Amazon (18.8%) and high-altitude (6.3%) regions. In Model 1, all child-level predictors were significant (p < 0.001); in Model 2, six out of nine added school-level predictors (number of students, existence of policies and practices for physical activity, multisportsroofed, duration of Physical Education classes, and extracurricular activities) were significant (p < 0.001); in Model 3, subjects living at high altitudes were less likely to be overweight than those living at the sea level. Child- and school-level variables played important roles in explaining overweight variation. is information should be taken into account when designing more efficient strategies to combat the overweight and obesity epidemic
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