Overweight and obesity in the Mexican school-age population from 2015 to 2019

Abstract

Introduction: between 2006 and 2020, obesity in Mexico increased across all age groups and displayed a homogenizing evolutionary trend throughout, prevalence overweigth and obesity (Ow+Ob) has 38.2% in school age children. Objectives: to analyze the changes of Ow+Ob in a cohort with four years of evolution of students from Mexico elementary schools and to evaluate its association with socio-demographic factors. Methods: information comes from a nutritional surveillance system of 52,545 elementary schools, with weight and height measurements from 2,008,474 children from six to eleven years old. A follow-on panel longitudinal analysis was performed from 2015 to 2019 in a dynamic cohort with three measurements. Ow+Ob prevalences were obtained; through a logistic regression with random effects, odds ratios (OR) were calculated, adjusting by sociodemographic characteristics (p < 0.05). Results: between 2015 and 2019, positive OR were observed for Ow+Ob development in 2017-2018 (OR = 1.02) and 2018-2019 (OR = 1.06). Students from the northern and southern regions of the country showed a greater probability of suffering Ow+Ob (OR = 1.58 and 1.64) when compared with the center. Attending to community or indigenous schools was a protective factor (OR = 0.54) whereas attending to a private school increased the risk (OR = 1.75). Adjusted Ow+Ob prevalences showed an accelerated increasing trend in males through all the periods. Conclusions: in Mexico, obesity in school children is a growing problem related to sociodemographic factors, therefore, urgent actions are needed for its restraining.