Risk Factors for Overweight and Obesity among Children Ages 0 to 3.5 Living in the Miramichi Public Health Region of New-Brunswick, Canada

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Obesity, a major risk factor in numerous pathologies, poses a public health problem. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of the risk of overweight, overweight and obesity, as well as to identify and analyze the risk factors for weight gain among children in Miramichi in New Brunswick’s Horizon Health Network (HHN). This descriptive cross-sectional study was done between 2009 and 2014. The study population was composed of 335 children (185 boys and 150 girls) ages 0 to 42 months and their parents. Overweight and obesity were determined according to World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria adapted for Canada. A logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the risk factors associated with overweight and obesity. The prevalence of risk for overweight is 21% at birth as opposed to 55% at 42 months (both sexes together), and the prevalence of risk for overweight including obesity affects 11.8% of children, that is, 12.7% of boys as opposed to 10.94% of girls (p < 0.0001). The prevalence among boys is 1.2 times that among girls. This study also reveals that at 42 months, the average prevalence of obesity is 6.5% (8% for boys and 5% for girls). The mothers of overweight children have a higher post-pregnancy BMI (32.78 ± 4.16 kg/m2) than do the mothers of children who are a healthy weight (26.17 ± 7.90 kg/m2) (p < 0.0001). Moreover, 29.7% of children are overweight when both parents are overweight compared to 14.97% when both parents are a healthy weight (p < 0.05). This means that children are twice as likely to be overweight when both parents are overweight compared to children whose parents are a healthy weight. Otherwise, only 17% of the 335 children assessed in this study were breastfed and started on solid foods in accordance with the WHO recommendations. This study clearly shows that overweight is associated with sex, birth weight, parental obesity, maternal breastfeeding and the age of introduction of solid foods. The prevalence and identification of risk factors for overweight and infant obesity used to screen at-risk children will have the advantage of allowing adapted prevention strategies to be established.