Objective: To explore the rate of overweight and obesity, and the association between unhealthy dietary behaviors and overweight and obesity among Chinese school-aged children from 9 areas.
Methods: By multiple stage stratified cluster sampling, 814 children aged 7 - 12 years old were chosen, provided with questionnaire and anthropometric measurements. According to the definition from Working Group on Obesity in China, children,were divided into different group, univariate logistic regression and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the associations between unhealthy dietary behaviors and overweight and obesity.
Results: The rates of overweight and obesity of school-aged children were 22. 88% and 9. 90%, respectively. The rates were higher in urban areas, and second-tier cities were similar with first-tier city. Influence factor analysis revealed skipping breakfast behavior was the influence factor (OR =1. 65, P<0.05, OR= 2. 22, P <0. 01), picky eating behavior was negative correlation (OR =0.43, P<0.01 ; OR = 0. 32, P <0. 01) , and eating fact food and drinking carbonated beverage were picked out by the multivariate logistic regression model.
Conclusion: School-aged children’s overweight and obesity has been an increasingly serious health problem, which were correlated with genetic factor, environmental factor, and dietary behaviors and so on, poor dietary behavior might be influence factor for overweight and obesity, so it is necessary to provide earlier intervention strategies for parents to promote children’s good dietary habits.