Paper
Saturday, 22 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Pediatric Issues and Initiatives
Risk Factors of Increased Weight Gain in Chinese Children
Jyu-Lin Chen, PhD, RN and Christine Kennedy, PhD, PNP. Family Health Care Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
Learning Objective #1: The learner will be able to identify risk factors associated with increased relative weight in Chinese children.
Learning Objective #2: The learned will be able to describe roles of nurses in healthy weight management in children.
Background:  Childhood obesity is a global health epidemic and is increasing in many industrialized and developing countries, including Taiwan. Little is known, however, about the factors that determine relative weight gain in Chinese children. Understanding the risk factors for Chinese children is crucial because of a significant increase in the prevalence of overweight, from 17.6 % in 1988 to 22% in 1996 in Taiwan
 Methods:  A longitudinal study design was used to examine factors associated with change of body mass index (BMI) over one year in Chinese children,. A total of 307 children completed both baseline and one-year follow-up measures. Standardized and culturally appropriate instruments were used to measure the children’s food intake, physical activity/inactivity, health-related physical fitness, and maternal BMI.
Results:  Pearson correlation coefficient analyses suggested that a high baseline BMI (r=.86,p .<.01), poor aerobic capacity (r=-.24, p=.01), and a high maternal BMI (r=.26, p=.01) were significantly correlated with increased BMI at 12 months follow-up. Stepwise regression indicated that a high BMI at the baseline, mother’s overweight status, increased TV viewing and computer time, and poorer aerobic capacity were identified as risk factors of increased weight in children (F = 207.67, p < .001, adjusted R2 = .752).
Conclusions:  Understanding the risk factors for increased BMI in childhood is critical in preventing the onset of obesity and its persistence into adulthood, its resistance to treatment, and its detrimental health consequences. Chinese children, who historically have not been viewed as an at risk population for obesity, should not be ignored. Healthcare providers can undertake the critical task of raising awareness of childhood obesity by including the family in their children’s healthcare visits and incorporating assessments of maternal weight status, children’s BMI over time, children’s television viewing and computer time, and their aerobic capacity into patient care and education.

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