Prevalence of obesity among children of military dependents at two major medical centers

Abstract

Background: Prevalence of childhood obesity is unknown among military dependents. We ascertained the prevalence among all children aged 1 year or older attending the pediatric and adolescent clinics at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) during 1978 and the Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) during 1986 and 1990.

Methods: Obesity was defined according to the child's relative weight computed from growth charts of the National Center for Health Statistics.

Results: The study sample included 1715 children (1078 at BAMC, 637 at WRAMC). Among them, 14.8% were overweight, 10.8% were obese, and 7.7% (3.0% males, 4.7% females) were grossly obese. The prevalence of grossly obese children was 5.5% at WRAMC and 9.0% at BAMC; 11.5% among children of retirees and 7.3% among children of active duty personnel (P less than .008); 5.5% among children of officers and 12.2% among children of sergeants (P less than .0005). The prevalence of very obese children was 10.1% for those older than 12 years of age and 3.3% for those aged 6 years or younger (P less than .0001).

Conclusions: Retiree status of the sponsor was more important than sponsor's rank or child's age in determining the prevalence of childhood obesity. Prevalence of obesity approximately doubled over the 8 to 12 years of the study.