Situation and causes of simple obesity among preschool children in Tianjin

Objective To investigate the prevalence and causes of simple obesity in kindergarten children in Tianjin. Methods The height and body weight of 11180 children,aged 1.5～6year,5910 boys and 5276 girls,in 24 kindergartens in the 6 urban districts of Tianjin were survey by random stratified sampling. Questionnaire survey was conducted among the parents (n=183)and teachers (n=145)of the 104 overweight children,56 boys and 48 girls,and 99 obese children,71 boys and 28 girls,in 9 out of the 24 kindergartens selected by random stratified sampling. Personal interview was conducted among the parents (20) and teachers (20) of 20 randomly selected children from the 99 obese children. Results Six hundred and sixty overweight children and 426 obese children,totally 1086,were found in these 24 kindergartens. The overweight rate was 5.5%～6.3%,the obesity rate was 3.4%～4.2%,and the unqualified rate (overweight rate + obesity rate) was 9.1%～10.3% among the surveyed children. The obesity rate was 3.6% in the state-run kindergartens,4.2% in the district-run kindergartens,3.9% in the institution-run kindergartens,and 3.7% in the neighborhood-run kindergartens without significant difference between any 2 kinds of kindergartens. The obesity rate was 4.8% among the boys and 2.7% among the girls (P0.01). The unqualified child rate was 11.2% among the boys and 8.4% among the girls (P0.01). Most of the parents had wrong conceptions about diet. Many parents liked to stir-fry food,fry food in shallow oil without stirring,or fry food in deep fat and did not like to steam or boil food,and liked too oily food. Many families liked sedentary lifestyle,and watch too much TV.The eating habit was positively correlated with that of the parents in 12.9% of the children,positively correlated with that of the father in 19.35% of the children,and positively correlated with that of the mother in 67.74% of the children. Conclusion The problems of overweight and obesity are severe among preschool children in the urban area of Tianjin. Lack of scientific knowledge,wrong traditional conceptions,unhealthy family lifestyle and dietary habit,and misleading of teachers are the main causes.