Prevalence of Overweight in a Sample
of Chicago Preschool-Aged Children
Lindsey Turner, Ph.D. and Sarah
Hagin, B.S.
Background
Rates of overweight and obesity among American
preschool and school-aged
children have steadily increased over the past several decades. Data
from the 1999-2000 National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey show rates of overweight (85th
to <95th percentile) and
obesity (>95th percentile) among 2-5 year-olds of 10.2% and 10.4%,
respectively (Ogden et al,
2002). Targeting interventions to the highest-risk local communities
requires more community-specific estimates of variations in rates of
early childhood overweight/obesity. Study Design: An anonymous chart
review was conducted in a convenience sample of Chicago
preschools/daycare centers to estimate rates of overweight/obesity among
children 2 to 5 years of
age. Data were gathered regarding a total of 1,466 children at 15 daycare
centers. Age- and
gender-specific BMI percentiles were calculated. Children from the 85th
percentile up to the 95th
percentile were classified as overweight and children at or above the
9th percentile were
classified as obese.
Results
Centers were classified into three groups:
those serving primarily (>80%) White non-
Hispanic children (n = 4 centers); those serving primarily (>80%)
African-American children (n
= 5 centers); and those serving a mixture of children, but a majority
(>60%) of Hispanic/Latino
children (n = 6). Race/ethnicity was confounded with socioeconomic
status, in that a majority of
the centers serving African-American and Hispanic/Latino children had
very high proportions of
children receiving financial assistance (typically 90-100%), whereas
the centers serving
predominantly White students had very low numbers of reduced fee students
(<15%). Within
the three groups, data were pooled across centers to establish a group
estimate of the proportion
of children overweight and obese. In centers serving primarily African-American
children,
39.5% of children were overweight or obese (95% CI = 34.9, 44.2). In
centers serving a mixture
of children, with a majority of Hispanic/Latino children, 40.2% were
overweight or obese (95%
CI = 36.3, 44.1). In centers serving a majority of White non-Hispanic
children, 24.0% were
overweight or obese (95% CI= 19.4, 28.6).
Discussion and Conclusions
Rates of overweight/obesity among children
at the preschools participating in this sample are higher than the
national estimates of 20.6% among preschool-
aged children. Strikingly, the rates among African-American and Hispanic/Latino
preschoolers
are nearly double that of the national average. This was not a random
sample, and these data are
not intended to be representative of the entire population of Chicago,
but they do document the
high rates of overweight/obesity at these specific centers.
Implications: These data suggest two clear messages: 1) obesity rates
in the preschools
participating in the study were substantial, thus preschool and daycare
centers are an
essential target for childhood obesity-prevention programs, and 2)
these results document a
striking racial/ethnic disparity in prevalence of childhood obesity,
thus special attention should
be focused upon reducing risk for children at centers that predominantly
serve socioeconomically
disadvantaged African-American and Hispanic/Latino communities.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago
Children (CLOCC) for financially supporting the current project.
We also thank Ms. Jacqui
Sperling for her assistance with data collection, and thank the staff
members at the
preschool/daycare centers that participated in this study.
Publication
Credits
A manuscript reporting these results is under development.
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