TITLE:
Risk Factors for Overweight and Obesity among Children Ages 0 to 3.5 Living in the Miramichi Public Health Region of New-Brunswick, Canada
AUTHORS:
Etienne Dako, Louise Anin Atchibri, Fabrice Mobetty, Slimane Belbraouet, Guilaine Tchadieu Tchapya, Lita Villalon, Lita Villalon
KEYWORDS:
Child, Obesity, Overweight, Risk Factors, Horizon Health Network, Miramichi, New Brunswick
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.8 No.3,
March
30,
2017
ABSTRACT: Obesity, a major risk factor in numerous pathologies, poses a public health problem. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of the risk of overweight, overweight and obesity, as well as to identify and analyze the risk factors for weight gain among children in Miramichi in New Brunswick’s Horizon Health Network (HHN). This descriptive cross-sectional study was done between 2009 and 2014. The study population was composed of 335 children (185 boys and 150 girls) ages 0 to 42 months and their parents. Overweight and obesity were determined according to World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria adapted for Canada. A logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the risk factors associated with overweight and obesity. The prevalence of risk for overweight is 21% at birth as opposed to 55% at 42 months (both sexes together), and the prevalence of risk for overweight including obesity affects 11.8% of children, that is, 12.7% of boys as opposed to 10.94% of girls (p