The relationship between selected socioeconomic factors and basic anthropometric parameters of school-aged children and adolescents in Poland.

UNLABELLED: The aim of the present paper was to examine the associations between anthropometric parameters, overweight, obesity, and socioeconomic status (SES) of children and adolescents in Poland. Data were collected in the "Elaboration of reference blood pressure ranges for children and adolescents in Poland" OLAF-PL0080 (OLAF) study, a nationally representative survey on growth and blood pressure references for children and adolescents aged 7-18 years. Body height, weight, and waist circumference (WC) were measured, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Anthropometric parameters were standardized for age and gender and expressed as z-scores. Statistical analyses were conducted on 10,950 children and adolescents whose parents provided socioeconomic questionnaires. The associations between anthropometric parameters, overweight (including obesity), and SES were analyzed using multiple regression and multiple logistic regression. The height was positively associated with higher levels of maternal education and, in the case of girls, also with paternal education. Higher level of income per capita, but not the highest, was associated with higher weight, BMI, and WC and, in the case of boys, also tall stature. The height, weight, BMI, and waist were significantly inversely associated with number of children in the family. Lower number of children in the family and higher level of income, but not the highest, increased odds of overweight and obesity. In the case of girls, the odds of obesity decreased with paternal higher level of education. CONCLUSION: The social position associated with parents' education, better environment, and SES correlate with body height and weight of a child. However, it is associated with higher risk of overweight and abdominal obesity.

Oscillometric blood pressure percentiles for Polish normal-weight school-aged children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to construct blood pressure (BP) references with the use of a validated oscillometric device for normal-weight, school-aged children and adolescents and to study BP predictors. METHODS: BP was measured in 14 266 randomly selected, normal-weight Polish children and adolescents aged 7-18 years, who were free of chronic disease, using a validated oscillometric device (Datascope Accutor Plus). Height, weight and waist circumference were measured. BP percentiles were constructed for age and height simultaneously with the use of a polynomial regression model. The normative values of BP were compared with the US normal-weight reference, German oscillometric reference, and Polish auscultatory reference. RESULTS: Reference BP percentiles by sex, age and height are presented. At median height, the age-specific differences in the 90th BP percentiles compared with German oscillometric reference ranged in the case of boys from -3 to 2  mmHg and from -5 to -1  mmHg, SBP and DBP, respectively, and in the case of girls from 0 to 3  mmHg and from -5 to -1  mmHg, SBP and DBP, respectively. As compared to weight, waist circumference was stronger SBP predictor in low birth weight boys. CONCLUSION: The study provides BP references for oscillmetric device, based on a current, nationally representative sample of normal-weight Polish children and adolescents. The normative values of BP were compared taking into consideration the height and BMI differences, the pubertal spurt, the methods of BP measurement and percentile construction.