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Sources of variability in childhood obesity indicators and related behaviors

International Journal of Obesity volume 42, pages 108–110 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe sources of variability in obesity-related variables in 6022 children aged 9–11 years from 12 countries. The study design involved recruitment of students, nested within schools, which were nested within study sites. Height, weight and waist circumference (WC) were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated; sleep duration and total and in-school moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time were measured by accelerometry; and diet scores were obtained by questionnaire. Variance in most variables was largely explained at the student level: BMI (91.9%), WC (93.5%), sleep (75.3%), MVPA (72.5%), sedentary time (76.9%), healthy diet score (88.3%), unhealthy diet score (66.2%), with the exception of in-school MVPA (53.8%) and in-school sedentary time (25.1%). Variance explained at the school level ranged from 3.3% for BMI to 29.8% for in-school MVPA, and variance explained at the site level ranged from 3.2% for WC to 54.2% for in-school sedentary time. In general, more variance was explained at the school and site levels for behaviors than for anthropometric traits. Given the variance in obesity-related behaviors in primary school children explained at school and site levels, interventions that target policy and environmental changes may enhance obesity intervention efforts.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the ISCOLE External Advisory Board and the ISCOLE participants and their families who made this study possible. ISCOLE was funded by The Coca-Cola Company.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    P T Katzmarzyk, S T Broyles & G Hu

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

    J-P Chaput & M S Tremblay

  3. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    M Fogelholm

  4. Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    E V Lambert

  5. School of Health Sciences/Sansom Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    C Maher & T Olds

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

    J Maia

  7. Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

    V Onywera

  8. Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia

    O L Sarmiento

  9. University of Bath, Bath, UK

    M Standage

  10. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA

    C Tudor-Locke

Authors
  1. P T Katzmarzyk
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  2. S T Broyles
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  3. J-P Chaput
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  4. M Fogelholm
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  5. G Hu
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  6. E V Lambert
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  7. C Maher
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  8. J Maia
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  9. T Olds
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  10. V Onywera
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  11. O L Sarmiento
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  12. M Standage
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  13. M S Tremblay
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  14. C Tudor-Locke
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to P T Katzmarzyk.

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Competing interests

MF has received a research grant from Fazer Finland. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Katzmarzyk, P., Broyles, S., Chaput, JP. et al. Sources of variability in childhood obesity indicators and related behaviors. Int J Obes 42, 108–110 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2017.204

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2017.204

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