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Epidemiology and Population Health

Objectively measured waist circumference is most strongly associated in father–boy and mother–girl dyads in a large nationally representative sample of New Zealanders

International Journal of Obesity volume 45, pages 438–448 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background

The prevalence of children with elevated weight or obesity is concerning for public health due to associated comorbidities. This study investigates associations between parental adiposity, physical activity (PA), fruit and vegetable consumption, and child adiposity and moderation by both child and parent gender.

Methods

Cross-sectional nationally representative data from the New Zealand Health Survey were pooled for the years 2013/14–2016/17. Parent and child surveys were matched resulting in 13,039 child (2–14 years) and parent (15–70 years) dyads. Parent and child, height (cm), weight (kg) and waist circumference (WC) were measured objectively. Height and weight were used to calculate BMI. Linear regression, accounting for clustered samples (b [95% CI]) investigated associations between parental characteristics and child BMI z-score and WC. Interactions and stratification were used to investigate effect moderation by parent gender, child gender, and parent adiposity.

Results

Parental PA and fruit and vegetable consumption were unrelated to child adiposity. Overall, higher parent BMI was related to a higher child BMI z-score (b = 0.047 [0.042, 0.052]) and higher parental WC was related to a higher child WC (0.15 [0.12, 0.17]). A three-way interaction revealed no moderation by parent gender, child gender, and parent BMI for child BMI z-score ((b = 0.005 [−0.017, 0.027], p = 0.318). However, a three-way interaction revealed moderation by parent gender, child gender, and parent WC for child WC (b = 0.13 [0.05, 0.22]). The slightly stronger associations were seen between father–son WC (b = 0.20 [0.15, 0.24]) and mother–daughter WC (b = 0.19 [0.15, 0.22]).

Conclusions

The findings are highly relevant for those wishing to understand the complex relationships between child-parent obesity factors. Findings suggest that family environments should be a key target for obesity intervention efforts and show how future public health interventions should be differentiated to account for both maternal and paternal influences on child adiposity.

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Acknowledgements

This research was carried out as part of the GeoHealth Laboratory work programme at the University of Canterbury, funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Health. The authors thank the participants within the New Zealand Health Survey. Access to the data used in this study was provided by the New Zealand Ministry of Health under conditions designed to keep individual information confidential and secure in accordance with the requirements of the Health Information Privacy Code 1994 and the Privacy Act 1993. Finally, we would like to thank the staff at the New Zealand Ministry of Health who provided valuable advice to the project. MJD is supported by a Career Development Fellowship (APP1141606) from the National Health and Medical Research Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GeoHealth Laboratory, Geospatial Research Institute, University of Canterbury, Canterbury, New Zealand

    M. Hobbs, L. Marek, J. Wiki, M. Tomintz, M. Campbell & S. Kingham

  2. Health Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

    M. Hobbs

  3. Central Queensland University, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Appleton Institute, Physical Activity Research Group, Rockhampton, QLD, Australia

    S. Schoeppe & C. Vandelanotte

  4. School of Medicine & Public Health, Priority Research Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia

    M, J. Duncan

  5. School of Earth and Environment, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

    M. Campbell & S. Kingham

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Contributions

MH—Drafted manuscript, data analysis, interpretation of results, and submission of article. SS—Conception of idea, advice on data analysis, writing and editing of the manuscript. MD—Conception of idea, advice on data analysis, and editing of the manuscript. CV—Conception of idea, advice on data analysis, and editing of the manuscript. LM—Editing of manuscript and advice on data analysis. JW—Editing of the manuscript and advice on data analysis. MT—Editing of the manuscript. MC—Conception of idea and editing of the manuscript. SK—Conception of idea and editing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to M. Hobbs.

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Hobbs, M., Schoeppe, S., Duncan, M.J. et al. Objectively measured waist circumference is most strongly associated in father–boy and mother–girl dyads in a large nationally representative sample of New Zealanders. Int J Obes 45, 438–448 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-020-00699-w

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