Short CommunicationSex-specific associations with youth obesity in Queensland, Australia
Section snippets
Survey findings
Response rates among parents were 85% (1200/1415) in 2009 and 86% (2484/2888) in 2011. On pooling, there were 3517 children with valid BMI information, of whom 1831 (52%) were boys. Overall, most (67%) of Queensland children were of healthy weight, 18% were overweight, 9% obese and 7% were underweight. The prevalence of obesity among boys was 12% in those aged 5–11 and 7% among those aged 12–17. Among girls, 11% of those aged 5–11 and 4% aged 12–17 were obese. Obese children were significantly
Sex-specific associations
Among boys aged 5–11 years, parental education to high school compared with university level doubled the odds of obesity (OR 2.2, 95%: CI 1.3–3.7), and non-participation in organised sport was also associated (P = 0.007; Table 1). Take-away food consumption was associated with obesity in all boys (P < 0.05). Parents' marital status was not associated.
Among girls, a strong association between low parental education and obesity was seen (OR 5.6, 95% CI: 1.6–19.9) in those aged 12–17 years, in
Ethical approval
Ethics approval was obtained from the institutional Human Research Ethics Committee.
Funding
National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.
The sponsor had no involvement in study design, data collection or write up.
Competing interests
None declared.
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