Obesity Incidence among Infants in Rural Districts of Hokkaido. Longitudinal Study.

VernacularTitle:北海道農村幼児の肥満児頻度に関する縦断的研究
Author: Toshio IMAI ; Yoshio MURASHIMA
Publication Type:Journal Article
From:Journal of the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine 1997;46(1):18-22
CountryJapan
Language:Japanese
Abstract: To investigate the actual situation of obese infants in rural districts and the onset of obesity, we performed a longitudinal study of obesity incidence in day nursery infants aged from 2 to 6 years. The subjects were 124 males and 96 females. The degree of obesity was determined in accordance with Murata's index. Our findings were compared with the results of a similar investigation composed of 113 male and 95 female infants in an urban district of Hokkaido.
The obesity incidence was slightly higher among the rural infants than their urban counterparts, regardless of sex, but the difference was not significant (p<0.05). On this longitudinal study it was showed that the obesity incidence in males leaps at 3 and 4 years of age.
Based on these findings, we should encourage parents and infants, especially in early infancy, to have proper exercise and follow good health practice.