Various Risk Factors of Overweight and Obesity among Children Aged 5-16 Years

Abstract

Objective: To determine the determinants of overweight and obesity among children aged 5-16 years. Study Design: Descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: Emergency and Outpatient Department of National Institute of Child Health, from October 2020 till July 2021. Methodology: All children of either gender ranged between 5 and 16 years were enrolled. Children with ≥85 and <95 percentile were labeled as overweight and ≥95 percentile as obese. Other determinants like physical factors, high screen time, and environmental factors were noted. Frequency and percentages were computed for gender, residence, overweight, obesity, and physical and environmental factors. Mann-Whitney U-test was applied to determine the median difference of quantitative variables between overweight/obese and healthy children. The comparison was done to see the association of the presence of overweight/obesity with respect to the baseline characteristics. Binary logistic regression analysis was also applied. Results: Of 184 children, 99 (53.8%) were males and 85 (46.2%) females. The median age was 9 (7-12) years. There were 25 (13.6%) overweight and 80 (43.5%) obese children. In combination, the frequency of overweight/obesity was found to be 105 (57.1%). After adjusting for other covariates, the odds of overweight and obesity were significantly higher for children with age ≤9 years (adjusted OR: 3.40, 95% CI: 1.51-7.66) and male gender (adjusted OR: 3.95, 95% CI: 1.80-8.68). However, lower odds of overweight/obesity were observed among children with low physical activity at school (adjusted OR: 0.31, 95% CI: 0.14-0.66) and low screen time (≤4 hours) (adjusted OR: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.11-0.55). Conclusion: Children aged 5 to 16 years had a much greater frequency of overweight and obesity. Factors such as younger age, male gender, lower physical activity, and high time screen have been demonstrated to contribute significantly.