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Cross-Regional Analysis of Multiple Factors Associated with Childhood Obesity in India: A National or Local Challenge?

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Abstract

Objective

To investigate obesogenic co-causing factors, promoting rise of weight in children, associated to local differences in India.

Methods

Overall 1,680 children, aged 3–11 and balanced by gender, were recruited in school contexts distributed in seven major Indian cities. All children were weighted and measured in order to calculate their BMI. A validated cultural specific questionnaire was administered to children’s parents for assessing socio-demographic data, eating habits, physical activity, etc. Furthermore children’s brand awareness scores were computed in order to analyze their affiliation towards food-based advertisement. Descriptive statistics of frequencies, duration and intensity of the various factors were performed. Chi-square tests or Wilcoxon signed rank test were used for evaluating significance of differences in factors distribution across Indian cities.

Results

Four factors, promoting rise of children’s weight, were individuated as associated to urban differences, namely meal times consumed in the family, parents’ BMI, brand awareness and physical activity. These aspects exercised a significant impact on children’s body size in Kolkata and Chennai. Hyderabad and Mumbai, instead, were the cities where religion played some role in influencing children’s weight gain.

Conclusions

Such findings underline the need to frame obesity as a situated phenomenon rather than a national problem. Health policies, implemented in treating and preventing obesity, should be therefore specifically focused on locally situated peculiarities.

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Contributions

DG: Designed the study; AH, DG and AG: Wrote the manuscript; DG and RC: Performed the statistical analysis. AG, IB, HP and ECP critically revised the manuscript and contributed to the discussion. All authors contributed to results interpretation, read and approved the final manuscript. DG will act as guarantor for this paper.

Conflict of Interest

None.

Source of Funding

This work is partially supported by an unrestricted grant from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate General for Country Promotion, and from Prochild ONLUS (Italy).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Via Loredan, 18, 35121, Padova, Italy

    Dario Gregori, Rosanna Comoretto, Alexander Hochdorn & Ileana Baldi

  2. Department of Otorhinolaryngology (ENT), Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India

    Achal Gulati

  3. College of Nursing, Lakeside Institute of Child Health, Lakeside Hospital, Bangalore, India

    Elizabeth Cherian Paramesh & Haralappa Paramesh

  4. MERF Institute of Speech & Hearing (MERF-ISH), Chennai, India

    Powlin Arockiacath

  5. Internal Medicine Unit, Gemona del Friuli Hospital, Gemona del Friuli, Italy

    Rosanna Comoretto

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  1. Dario Gregori
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Gregori, D., Gulati, A., Paramesh, E.C. et al. Cross-Regional Analysis of Multiple Factors Associated with Childhood Obesity in India: A National or Local Challenge?. Indian J Pediatr 81 (Suppl 1), 5–16 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-014-1550-0

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