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Global Childhood Obesity

The epidemiological transition and the global childhood obesity epidemic

International Journal of Obesity Supplements volume 5, pages S3–S8 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

Childhood obesity is now recognized as a global public health issue. Social patterning of obesity, consistent with the theory of epidemiologic transition, has not been well described in children, and the limited research has focused on developed settings. The aim of this study was to describe the relationship between childhood obesity and household income using objective measures of adiposity and to explore how this relationship differs across levels of country human development.

METHODS:

The International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment (ISCOLE) was a multi-national cross-sectional study conducted in 12 urban/suburban study sites that represented all inhabited continents and wide ranges of development. ISCOLE collected objectively measured height, body mass and percentage body fat in 7341 10-year-old children. Multi-level random-effects models were used to examine income gradients in several obesity measures.

RESULTS:

The mean age of the children was 10.4 years, and 12.6% were obese, ranging from 5.4% (Finland) to 23.8% (China). For both boys and girls, obesity prevalence, body fat percentage and body mass index (BMI) z-score increased linearly with higher income at lower levels of development (all P for trend ⩽0.0012), but decreased linearly with higher income at higher levels of development (all P for trend ⩽0.0003). Country human development explained 75% of the variation in the country-specific income–obesity relationships (r=−0.87, P=0.0003).

CONCLUSIONS:

Results are consistent with the theory of epidemiologic transition. Global efforts to control obesity must account for socioeconomic factors within a country’s context. Future research should seek to understand global socioeconomic patterns in obesity-related lifestyle behaviors.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the ISCOLE External Advisory Board and the ISCOLE participants and their families who made this study possible. A membership list of the ISCOLE Research Group and External Advisory Board is included in Katzmarzyk et al. (this issue). ISCOLE was funded by The Coca-Cola Company. MF has received a research grant from Fazer Finland. RK has received a research grant from Abbott Nutrition Research and Development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    S T Broyles, K D Denstel, T S Church, G Hu, C Tudor-Locke & P T Katzmarzyk

  2. Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    J-P Chaput & M S Tremblay

  3. Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    M Fogelholm

  4. St Johns Research Institute, Bangalore, India

    R Kuriyan & A Kurpad

  5. Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    E V Lambert

  6. Alliance for Research in Exercise Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    C Maher & T Olds

  7. CIFI2D, Faculdade de Desporto, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    J Maia

  8. Centro de Estudos do Laboratório de Aptidão Física de São Caetano do Sul, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    V Matsudo

  9. Department of Recreation Management and Exercise Science, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

    V Onywera

  10. School of Medicine, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia

    O L Sarmiento

  11. Department for Health, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    M Standage

  12. Department of Kinesiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA

    C Tudor-Locke

  13. Tianjin Women’s and Children’s Health Center, Tianjin, China

    P Zhao

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  1. S T Broyles
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to P T Katzmarzyk.

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Competing interests

MF has received an honorarium for speaking for Merck. AK has been a member of the Advisory Boards of Dupont and McCain Foods. VM is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Actigraph and has received an honorarium for speaking for The Coca-Cola Company. TO has received an honorarium for speaking for The Coca-Cola Company. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Broyles, S., Denstel, K., Church, T. et al. The epidemiological transition and the global childhood obesity epidemic. Int J Obes Supp 5 (Suppl 2), S3–S8 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijosup.2015.12

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