180,096 research outputs found

    Should strategies to tackle childhood obesity also focus on mental health?

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    Childhood obesity continues to be a concern in the UK as in many other countries. Although there has been a ‘levelling off’ of BMI recorded through the National Childhood Measurement Programme in recent years the upward trend continues in older and more deprived children. Childhood obesity has been linked to poor mental health but whether psychological and social problems are a consequence or a contributor to obesity is unknown. Childhood obesity programmes that recognise and address psychosocial problems are proving useful in addressing obesity problems but there continued support is subject to continued funding. School Nurses, by measuring children’s height and weight, can identify children at risk of obesity but this is ineffective on its own and more support and advice is needed for School Nurses on how to tackle the complex conditions surrounding childhood obesity

    Socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood as a predictor of excessive gestational weight gain and obesity in midlife adulthood.

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    BackgroundLower childhood socioeconomic position is associated with greater risk of adult obesity among women, but not men. Pregnancy-related weight changes may contribute to this gender difference. The objectives of this study were to determine the associations between: 1. childhood socioeconomic disadvantage and midlife obesity; 2. excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) and midlife obesity; and 3. childhood socioeconomic disadvantage and excessive GWG, among a representative sample of childbearing women.MethodsWe constructed marginal structural models for seven measures of childhood socioeconomic position for 4780 parous women in the United States, using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979-2010) data. Institute of Medicine definitions were used for excessive GWG; body mass index ≥30 at age 40 defined midlife obesity. Analyses were separated by race/ethnicity. Additionally, we estimated controlled direct effects of childhood socioeconomic disadvantage on midlife obesity under a condition of never gaining excessively in pregnancy.ResultsLow parental education, but not other measures of childhood disadvantage, was associated with greater midlife obesity among non-black non-Hispanic women. Among black and Hispanic mothers, childhood socioeconomic disadvantage was not consistently associated with midlife obesity. Excessive GWG was associated with greater midlife obesity in all racial/ethnic groups. Childhood socioeconomic disadvantage was not statistically significantly associated with excessive GWG in any group. Controlled direct effects were not consistently weaker than total effects.ConclusionsChildhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with adult obesity, but not with excessive gestational weight gain, and only for certain disadvantage measures among non-black non-Hispanic mothers. Prevention of excessive GWG may benefit all groups through reducing obesity, but excessive GWG does not appear to serve as a mediator between childhood socioeconomic position and adult obesity in women

    Childhood obesity : report by the Comptroller and Auditor General

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    What Does America Think About Childhood Obesity?

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    Presents findings from a survey of 1,108 adults that examines current attitudes about childhood obesity and measures support for various childhood obesity prevention initiatives

    Childhood Obesity and Familial Hypercholesterolemia: Genetic Diseases that Contribute to Cardiovascular Disease

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    Childhood obesity occurs as the result of an imbalance between caloric intake and energy expenditure. Genetic risk factors for obesity have become an area of research due to its permanency. Mutated genes such as Fat Mass and Obesity Associated (FTO), Leptin (LEP), Leptin Receptor (LEPR), Melanocortin 4 Receptor (MC4R), Adiponectin C1Q and Collagen Domain Containing (ADIPOQ), Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 1 (PCSK1), and Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma (PPARG) all contribute to the development of childhood obesity. In the presence of high cholesterol caused by obesity, the genetic condition known as familial hypercholesterolemia is exacerbated. Familial hypercholesterolemia is caused by a mutation in the following genes: Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor (LDLR), Apolipoprotein B (APOB), Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor Adaptor Protein 1 (LDLRAP1), and the Proprotein Convertase Subtillisin/Kexin Type 9 (PCSK9). Familial hypercholesterolemia and childhood obesity both contribute to elevated serum cholesterol levels resulting in the accelerated progression of atherosclerosis in children. Another sequela of hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis, is an arterial disease that contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease in children. Nurses play a prominent role in the prevention of childhood obesity through education within the community and school setting. As a result of childhood obesity and familial hyperlipidemia, both genetically-linked, cardiovascular disease has become prevalent in the pediatric population

    Adult socioeconomic, educational, social, and psychological outcomes of childhood obesity: a national birth cohort study

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    Objectives: To assess adult socioeconomic, educational, social, and psychological outcomes of childhood obesity by using nationally representative data. Design: 1970 British birth cohort. Participants: 16 567 babies born in Great Britain 5-11 April 1970 and followed up at 5, 10, and 29-30 years. Main outcome measures: Obesity at age 10 and 30 years. Self reported socioeconomic, educational, psychological, and social outcomes at 30 years. Odds ratios were calculated for the risk of each adult outcome associated with obesity in childhood only, obesity in adulthood only, and persistent child and adult obesity, compared with those obese at neither period. Results: Of the 8490 participants with data on body mass index at 10 and 30 years, 4.3% were obese at 10 years and 16.3% at 30 years. Obesity in childhood only was not associated with adult social class, income, years of schooling, educational attainment, relationships, or psychological morbidity in either sex after adjustment for confounding factors. Persistent obesity was not associated with any adverse adult outcomes in men, though it was associated among women with a higher risk of never having been gainfully employed (odds ratio 1.9, 95% confidence interval 1.1 to 3.3) and not having a current partner (2.0, 1.3 to 3.3). Conclusions: Obesity limited to childhood has little impact on adult outcomes. Persistent obesity in women is associated with poorer employment and relationship outcomes. Efforts to reduce the socioeconomic and psychosocial burden of obesity in adult life should focus on prevention of the persistence of obesity from childhood into adulthood

    Childhood Obesity: The Role of Health Policy

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    This first policy report from the CPRC and the NICHQ Childhood Obesity Action Network was released on March 18, 2008 in Miami Florida as part of the Second Childhood Obesity Congress

    Childhood Maltreatment and BMI Trajectories to Mid-Adult Life: Follow-Up to Age 50y in a British Birth Cohort.

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    Childhood maltreatment including abuse and neglect has been associated with adult obesity, but evidence on life-course development of obesity or BMI gain is unclear. We aim to establish whether childhood maltreatments are related to obesity or BMI at different life-stages 7y-50y and to identify possible explanations for associations
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