International Union for Circumpolar Health Ministry of Public Health and Social Development of RF Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Medical Polar Fund “Science” The Northern Forum

Abstracts

Child health. Women`s health

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study is to monitor the trends since 1970 in the development of and sustainability of overweight and obesity among children in Nuuk, Greenland.

STUDY DESIGN: Data consists of measurements from school nurses and doctors having followed children from birth to end of school from 1970 to 2003. The database consists of 19.909 measurements on height and weight of 4.213 children age 0 to 17 born between 1970 and 2003.

METHODS: By means of descriptive statistics, logistic regression and survival analysis, the data have revealed the development in the prevalence of overweight and obesity as well as the risk of developing overweight and age at onset.

RESULTS: Since 1970, the proportion of overweight and obese children has increased threefold from 6.6% overweight and 0.9% obese in-schooling children in the early eighties to 16.5% overweight and 5.2% obese after the turn of the century. Children born in late nineties have a risk of 2.7 for developing overweight or obesity compared to children born in the early seventies. 60% of the children who were overweight at age 6 was also overweight at age 15, and the majority of children in the upper weight quartile at 6 years were overweight or obese when they reached adolescence. Survival analyses have revealed that the time where most children develop overweight is concentrated around the age of 10.

CONCLUSION: The study provides evidence that the obesity epidemic has reached the young population in Nuuk, by documenting an increase in the prevalence during the past 30 years. The study also found that the tracking of obesity from preschool into adolescence is strong. The study has also shown that the crucial time in a child’s life at risk of developing overweight is around the age of 10.

Note. Abstracts are published in author's edition

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Last update: 06-Jul-2012 (11:52:05)