Title

Global Prevalence Of Overweight And Obesity In Preschoolers

Keywords

Assessment; Early childhood overweight; Management; Obesity prevalence; Prevention; Reference standards

Abstract

Twenty-three studies reporting cross-sectional and longitudinal data were conducted in 14 different countries between 1998 and 2008. The number of preschool age children totaled more than 43,837 with one study not reporting a sample size. Studies used both international (i.e., International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), World Health Organization (WHO)) and national reference standards (i.e., United States - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Spain - SRS, Italy - Luciano) to classify children as overweight or obese. Within the same sample the percentage of children classified in these categories often showed a 1.5- to 2-fold difference in the prevalence of overweight/obesity with greatest differences in the between country-specific standards (CDC vs. Luciano). WHO percentages frequently exceeded the IOTF percentages. The prevalence of overweight/obese children escalated with increasing age from 2-5 years in both boys and girls with girls showing higher frequencies in 2/3rds of the 72 sex-paired comparisons. The results indicate a recent high prevalence of overweight and obesity in middle and high income countries, among both welloff and lower income segments of populations, in both rural and urban areas, and among all ethnic and racial groups represented. Because a high proportion of preschool overweight/ obese children will continue to increase their adiposity and are at risk for the early onset of metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and behavioral problems, concerted public health efforts are needed to coordinate culturallyappropriate parental and caregiver education, home lifestyle changes, dietary and exercise modifications that will reverse the current trajectory. © 2011 E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung Stuttgart Germany.

Publication Date

9-1-2011

Publication Title

Anthropologischer Anzeiger

Volume

68

Issue

4

Number of Pages

437-456

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1127/0003-5548/2011/0149

Socpus ID

80053357680 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/80053357680

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