A case control study on risk of overweight and obesity among under five children in Kuantan

• Main Authors: Kamaruzaman, Nor Azam, Ibrahim, Siti Shahirah Nadiah, Pasi, Hafizah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia (AFPM) 2024
• Subjects: RJ101 Child Heatlh. Child health services. Preventive health services for children
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/112636/5/112636_A%20case%20control%20study%20on%20risk%20of%20overweight%20and%20obesity.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/112636/; https://e-mfp.org/issue/volume-19-supplement-1/

Introduction: Overnutrition, low physical activity, high screen time and inadequate sleep contribute to the rise in overweight and obesity. is study aims to explore how these factors affect the occurrence of overweight in children under- five. Methods: An unmatched case control study involving a total of 225 children (45 overweight children and 180 with normal BMI) was conducted among attendees at seven health clinics in Kuantan district in 2023. An interviewer-guided questionnaire was used to gather the relevant data from the caregivers and data was analysed using the IBM SPSS Version 26. Results: The mean age was 29.4 + 12.1 months, with 53.3% of them were boys. Most were Malay (92.8%) and came from the B40 family group (74.4%). Children with excessive intake of carbohydrates food and milk (more than feeding recommendation) have more than three times (OR: 3.62 [95% CI 1.7-7.87]) and six times (OR: 6.43 [95% CI 2-20.7]) significant risk of becoming overweight respectively. Children with inadequate physical activity (<180 minutes per day) and excessive screen time (> 1 hour per day) have six times (OR: 6.04 [95% CI 1.67-21.81]) and nearly three times (OR: 2.76 [95% CI 1.28-5.93]) significantly higher risk of becoming overweight respectively. Lastly, children with inadequate sleep time (according to age recommendation) have more than three times higher risk of becoming overweight (OR: 3.49 [95% CI 1.48-8.24]). Conclusion: Caregivers and relevant authorities must play an active role to prevent childhood obesity through reduction in sedentary behaviours and implementing healthy feeding and sleep practice among infants and young children.