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Three‐Year Incidence of Obesity Among US Children Aged 0–23 Months Living in Low‐Income Families
Author(s) -
Pan Liping,
May Ashleigh,
Wethington Holly,
Dalenius Karen,
GrummerStrawn Laurence
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.343.4
Subject(s) - medicine , demography , obesity , pacific islanders , incidence (geometry) , percentile , ethnic group , gerontology , pediatrics , environmental health , population , statistics , physics , mathematics , sociology , anthropology , optics
Our objective was to examine the incidence of obesity (BMI‐for‐age ≥ 95th percentile based on CDC growth charts) among young low‐income children. We included 1 million nonobese participants in federally‐funded child health and nutrition programs aged 0–23 months in 2008 and examined their incidence of obesity in 2011. Weight and height were measured; missing, miscoded or biological implausible values were excluded. We used a log‐binomial model to estimate relative risk of obesity adjusting for sex, baseline age, and race/ethnicity. The 3‐year incidence of obesity was: overall, 12.2%; boys, 12.6%; girls, 11.8%; aged<12 months at baseline, 12.9%; aged 12–23 months at baseline, 11.2%; non‐Hispanic(NH) whites, 10.6%; NH blacks, 9.7%; Hispanics, 15.0%; American Indians(AI)/Alaska Natives(AN), 15.4%; and Asians/Pacific Islanders(PI), 9.6%. Compared with boys, girls had 6.2% decreased risk for obesity. Compared with infants, 12–23 month olds had a 13.7% risk reduction. Compared with NH whites, the risk significantly increased by 42.6% among Hispanics and 44.6% among AIs/ANs, and reduced by 7.9% and 9% among NH blacks and Asians/PIs, respectively. The high incidence underscores the importance of early life obesity prevention among low‐income children. The variations within subgroups suggest that Hispanics and AIs/ANs should be prioritized for additional targeted prevention efforts to reduce disparities.