Do Parent's Lifestyle Factors and Their Socioeconomic-Food Security Status Affected Children's Growth in Pre-Crisis Venezuela?

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Life conditions are key factors for defining growth and development of future generation. Exposure to drugs, alcohol, use of tobacco and other substances in parents as part of their lifestyle, have been reported to affect children's health and wellbeing. Prenatal exposures have been documented, but less is known about influences from parental harmful habits during children 's school years. The aim of this study is to examine potential associations between parental habits and anthropometric characteristics of their children. Parental smoking, alcohol intake, food security, and socioeconomic status (SES) were explored in 1730 children recruited at private and public schools in eight Venezuelan cities. These qualitative variables were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire. Weight, height and body mass index were measured using standardized methods. Height and BMI were converted to z-scores according to WHO international growth reference. Low BMI z-scores in children were significantly associated with mothers consuming alcohol. The frequency of children with short height was higher in households with impaired access to quality foods and where mothers reported low and very low food security status. In brief, our study indicates that social environment could have detrimental effects on child anthropometry, and on adequacy of food intake affecting their wellbeing. Funding: This study was supported by an award given by Caracas’ Insurance Foundation ( from Liberty Mutual Venezuela) as the awarded best Project in 2010. The funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, the decision to publish, or the preparation of this manuscript. Declaration of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethical Approval: The study was approved by the ethics committee of the Venezuelan Scientific Society for Obesity, and conducted in accordance with the ethical standards specified in the World Medical Association (2000) Declaration of Helsinski. Informed consent was obtained from a parent or legal guardian of each participating child.