Author(s): José-Juan Sánchez-Cruz, Ma José Sánchez Pérez, Llenalia García Fernández and Ricardo Ocaña Riola
Background: We studied the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children from Andalusia, the southernmost county of Spain. A broad range of potential risk factors, covering lifestyles like physical exercise, eating habits and sleeping hours; individual characteristic such as age of the child and gender, as well as socio-economic and environmental factors, are considered to provide an analysis of the current situation, and enable subsequent development of counteracting programs. Methods: We analysed data from 2,325 resident children in Andalusia aged 8-15 years from 1999 to 2007. Explorative analysis was carried out to identify key features and logistic regression models were used to quantify possible relations of overweigh/obesity with potential risk factors. Results: Results based on logistic regression models confirm significant relations of overweight/obesity with age (odds ratio [OR]=0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI]=(0.73,0.79)) and gender (OR=1.84; CI=(1.53, 2.22) for boys). Physical activity, sleeping hours and good diet habits related to an increase of milk and yogurt consumption decreased the risk of overweight and obesity. Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight/obesity in children aged 8-15 years in Andalusia in 2007 was 29.8% (95% CI=(26.71, 31.93)), being in agreement with other studies of developed countries. None of the environmental factors considered were significant in combination with individual factors.
