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Research Article

Prevalence and behavioral risk factors of overweight and obesity among children aged 2–18 in Beijing, China

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Pages 383-389 | Received 26 May 2009, Published online: 17 Mar 2010
 

Abstract

Objectives. The study aimed to assess the prevalence of obesity and the related behavioral risk factors among children in Beijing. Methods. Data were collected as part of a 2004 comprehensive study on obesity and metabolic syndrome among 21 198 children, aged 2–18 years old in Beijing. Four local and international references for the classification of childhood overweight and obesity were compared. Results. The combined prevalence of obesity and overweight among children, aged 2–18 years old, was 18.7%, 21.4%, and 20.1% based on the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) reference, new World Health Organization (WHO) growth standard, and the US 2000 Center for Disease Control and Prevention Growth Charts, respectively; and it was 21.7%, according to the local Chinese body mass index (BMI) reference for school-age children (aged 7–18 years). Physical inactivity, less sleep duration, higher consumption of alcohol, snack food and Western fast food and more screen time were associated with overweight and obesity (p<0.05). Conclusions. Over 20% of children and adolescents in Beijing are overweight or obese. Effort should be made to combat the growing obesity epidemic.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission (H030930030031, D08050700320000), National Natural Science Foundation of China (#30872165), Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2006BAI01A01) and Beijing Natural Science Foundation (#7072011). We would like to thank Dr. Jia-Li Duan from the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Dr. Shu-Juan Yan from Beijing Maternal and Child Hospital for their support for the study.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

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