Abstract
BackgroundParents are responsible not only for the genetic structure of their children, but also for passing onto them their behaviours and attitudes toward life. The aim of this study was to analyse the connection between school-age children's obesity and that of their parents as well as between child obesity and parents' educational level, as a proxy indicator of the socio-economic status (SES) of families in Tuscany.MethodsThe children sample was selected from "OKkio alla Salute 2010" (a cross sectional survey carried out by the Italian Institute of Health) and consisted of 1,751 (922 males and 855 females) 8-9 year-old school children. Weight and height were measured by ad hoc trained personnel, and Body Mass Index (BMI) categories were calculated using Cole et al.'s cut-off. Parents' weight, height and educational level were collected by a self-administered questionnaire. The educational levels were classified as high, medium and low.ResultsThe prevalence of obese children increased along the parents' BMI category: from 1.4% for underweight mothers to 30.3% for obese mothers and from 4% for under-normal-weight fathers to 23.9% for obese fathers (p < 0.001). An inverse relationship was observed between the parents' educational level and child obesity, the lowest educational level corresponding to the highest prevalence of obese children: 9.3% for mothers with a low educational level compared to 5.8% for mothers with a high educational level (p = 0.15); similarly, the corresponding prevalence for fathers was 9.5% compared to 4.5% (p = 0.03).ConclusionParents' obesity and the cultural resources of the family, particularly the father's, seem to influence the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Tuscan children.
Highlights
Parents are responsible for the genetic structure of their children, and for passing onto them their behaviours and attitudes toward life
The aim of the present study is to focus on the risk factors for obesity in paediatric age and, on the possible association between parental and child obesity and the influence that parents’ educational level could exert on children’s weight status
There is a clear prevalence of underweight mothers compared to fathers (5.0% vs. 0.4%)
Summary
Parents are responsible for the genetic structure of their children, and for passing onto them their behaviours and attitudes toward life. Childhood obesity can create many complications at the cardiovascular, endocrine, pulmonary, musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal levels, as well as possible psycho-social consequences (poor self esteem, depression, eating disorders) [1]. For this reason, recent studies have focused on the possible causes and risk factors associated with obesity in paediatric ages. Obesity is known to be a multi-factorial disorder originating from the interaction of genetic and environmental factors; the accumulation of body fat is a very known that there is an inverse relationship between socio-economic conditions and the health status of the population in developed countries. Studies have shown an inverse relationship between children Body Mass Index (BMI) and family educational level; in this context, the parents’ educational level is one of the most commonly used indicator [13,14,15]
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