Trend in childhood obesity reflects socioeconomic status in Argentina.

Background: Surveillance of childhood obesity is essential to guide preventive policies and interventions.Aim: To analyse trends in overweight and obesity by socioeconomic status (SES) in Argentinian schoolchildren during the last decade.Subjects and methods: Two cross-sectional studies in schoolchildren aged 6-12 years were compared. The first study was conducted in 2005/07 (n = 1418) and the second one in 2015/16 (n = 1366). Overweight and obesity were estimated by the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cut-offs. The type of school (public/private) and parental education level were used as measures of SES. Data were analysed by linear and logistic regression with survey year, type of school, parental education level, and sex as independent variables.Results: From 2005 to 2016 overweight and obesity increased by 7.3% and 5.0%, respectively. The change was significantly higher in boys (9.6% and 8.3%) and girls (9.6% and 5.4%) from public schools, and in children whose fathers had low (10% and 8.3%) and middle (9.0% and 5.5%) education levels. No significant changes were found in children attending private school or those whose fathers had a higher education level.Conclusions: Obesity is still increasing in this population. SES disparities are strongly associated with this trend, with stabilisation in children from high SES.

Short sleep and low milk intake are associated with obesity in a community of school aged children from Argentina.

OBJECTIVES: Understanding the factors related to obesity during childhood allows for improved preventive actions specifically adapted to particular communities. The purpose of this study was to identify individual and familiar factors related to obesity in children. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in an urban community in Argentina during the years 2015-2016. Weight and height were measured on a probabilistic sample of 1366 schoolchildren aged 6 to 12 years. BMI categories were established according to International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cut-offs. Data were analyzed using multivariate and logistic regression models. Independent variables corresponded to four domains: anthropometric, socioeconomic and demographic, nutritional, and energy balance. RESULTS: Twenty percent of children were categorized as overweight (OW) and 12.2% were obese (OB). Parental IOTF grade was positively associated with childhood OW/OB (father B = 0.421 P = 0.000, OR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.24-1.88; mother B = 0.498 P = 0.000, OR = 1.65, 95% CI 1.37-1.97). The remaining variables were negatively associated with OW/OB: hours of sleep (B = -0.566 P = 0.001, OR = 0.57, 95% CI 0.41-0.79), physical activity (B = -0.362 P = 0.017, OR = 0.70, 95% CI 0-52-0.94), and daily milk intake (B = -0.178 P = 0.045, OR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.70-0.99). Parental IOTF predicted both OW and OB, while sleep hours predicted OW and physical activity predicted OB. CONCLUSIONS: Family should be considered the initial target for effective strategies to reduce obesity. Like physical activity, the promotion of milk and dairy intake, as well as sleep, may have a major role in obesity reduction because of their protective effects in this community.