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Height, Weight and Body Mass Index in low‐ and middle‐high‐income urban preschoolers in the Western Highlands of Guatemala
Author(s) -
GarcíaMeza María Rosario,
Doak Colleen M.,
Beintema Joni Jade Serena,
Orozco Mónica N.,
Gwaltney Rebecca,
Rolker Heike B.,
Solomons Noel W
Publication year - 2016
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.30.1_supplement.33.4
Subject(s) - overweight , socioeconomic status , obesity , body mass index , demography , medicine , population , malnutrition , public health , cross sectional study , environmental health , geography , gerontology , sociology , nursing , pathology
Background Overweight and obesity prevalences are emerging rapidly among children in low‐ and middle‐income countries, especially in urban environments. In this population of urban Guatemala, chronic undernutrition is prevalent in low Socio‐Economic Status pre‐schoolers (46%) but only 6% in the higher SES children. Little is known about overweight and obesity in urban pre‐schoolers from high and low SES settings. Objective To compare height, weight and BMI by socio‐geographical location in two urban settings in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Methods A cross‐sectional study collected data from private and public urban preschool centres of Quetzaltenango and Sololá, respectively. Informed consent was attained from the parents, and a total of 249 children, 4–7 years old, were measured. The contrast in socioeconomic status (SES) was captured by selecting public pre‐schools from a low socio‐economic area of Sololá and private pre‐schools from the relatively affluent Quetzaltenango. WHO growth references (≥5y) and standards (<5y) were used to calculate BMI‐for‐Age z‐scores. Age appropriate definitions were used, with overweight and obesity for children < 5y defined as ≥ 1 SD WHO BMI‐for‐Age Z score and for > 5y defined as ≥ 2 SD WHO BMI‐for‐Age Z score). Results Children from the high SES public private were on average 6.7 cm taller and 3.2 kg heavier than children from the low SES public preschools. In the youngest age group, the higher SES children had high prevalent overweight (9.6%) whereas the lower SES children had virtually no overweight (0.9%) in the same age group. The same pattern was seen in the >5y children, with 20.9% overweight in the high SES children and less than half that prevalence (9.6%) low SES children of the same age. Conclusion In this population of urban Guatemala, preschool children from a high SES environment are taller and heavier in comparison to their low‐SES counterparts. These results show a growing public health concern of overweight and obesity in higher SES preschool children.