Background: The association between overweight parents and overweight children/adolescents was investigated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between 1995 and 1996, controlling for the influence of socio-economic and demographic factors.
Methods: Data were obtained from a two-stage, residence-based, random sample survey of children and adolescents aged 6-19 years and their parents. Body mass index (BMI) was used to classify nutritional status. Initially, a logistic regression model was built, using an indicator of parental weight (maternal BMI) as one of the independent variables and the child/adolescent's BMI as the dependent variable. Following that, the association between socio-economic and demographic variables and overweight children/adolescents was analysed in a univariate analysis. These variables were pre-selected for inclusion in the logistic model, provided that their levels of statistical significance were below P=0.25, and were added to the model individually according to the order of association strength in the univariate analysis. Finally, variables were retained in this model at a significance level of P=0.05.
Results: This study found that 20.7% of girls and 26.9% of boys were overweight, with a larger prevalence among children aged less than 9 years. In addition to maternal BMI, the predictors of overweight children and adolescents were age, gender and the number of people in a house.
Conclusions: These results demonstrate the relationship between maternal nutritional status and overweight children and adolescents, suggesting that obesity-prevention programmes should be focused on the family.