Introduction and Purpose
Overweight and obesity have recently emerged as major problems of malnutrition among children in developing countries. However, risk factors for childhood obesity in Asian countries remain largely unknown. Identification of target populations for its prevention and intervention is urgently needed. This survey was conducted to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity and identify possible risk factors among kindergarten children in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Methods
In this cross-sectional study conducted in March, 2005, 780 children in their third and fourth years in kindergarten and their mothers were randomly selected from eight local kindergartens. Height and weight of mother-child pairs were measured, and an interview was conducted by trained staff using a questionnaire in Vietnamese. Overweight/obesity was defined as a weight-for-height > 2 SD above the National Center for Health Statistics median reference value. Risk factors for overweight/obesity were analyzed using logistic regression.
Results
There were 741 respondents (377 boys and 364 girls); the response rate was 95.0%. Average age of children was 61.8 ± 6.8 months; the average age of mothers was 35.0 ± 5.2 years. The average height and weight were 110 ± 5.7cm and 21.2 ± 4.0kg respectively. Of the 741 children, 27.8% were identified as being overweight/obesity. Four possible variables selected were: 1) child's sex, 2) mother's awareness of her child's current body type, 3) mother's expectation for her child's body type in the future, 4) mother's awareness of her own current body type .
Conclusion
Our findings point to the importance of addressing appropriate body images in the management of children's nutritional health. Providing sufficient amounts of information on appropriate body type in addition to feeding practice to mothers should be a priority at the Ho Chi Minh City Nutrition Center to prevent child overweight and obesity.