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Observational Study
. 2016 Sep;95(37):e4711.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000004711.

Prevalence of obesity and acanthosis nigricans among young children in the children's healthy living program in the United States Affiliated Pacific

Rachel Novotny  1 , Fenfang Li, Marie Kainoa Fialkowski, Andrea Bersamin, Aifili Tufa, Jonathan Deenik, Patricia Coleman, Rachael Leon Guerrero, Lynne R Wilkens; Children's Healthy Living (CHL) Program
Affiliations
Observational Study

Prevalence of obesity and acanthosis nigricans among young children in the children's healthy living program in the United States Affiliated Pacific

Rachel Novotny et al. Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Sep.

Abstract

Estimate prevalence of obesity and acanthosis nigricans (AN) among children in United States Affiliated Pacific (USAP) jurisdictions.Cross-sectional measurement of weight, height, and AN in 5775, 2 to 8 years old in 51 communities-Hawai'i, Alaska, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), 4 Federated States of Micronesia (Pohnpei, Yap, Kosrae, Chuuk). Analyses weighted to jurisdiction-specific sex and age distributions accounting for clustering of communities within jurisdictions.Prevalence of obesity was 14.0%, overweight 14.4%, healthy weight 68.9%, and underweight 2.6%, higher in males (16.3%) than females (11.6%), higher among 6 to 8 years old (16.3%) than 2 to 5 years old (12.9%), highest in American Samoa (21.7%), and absent in RMI. In total, 4.7% of children had AN, with no sex difference, higher in 6 to 8 years old (6.8%) than 2 to 5 years old (3.5%) and highest in Pohnpei (11.9%), and absent in Alaska. Obesity was highly associated with AN (odds ratio = 9.25, 95% confidence interval = 6.69-12.80), with the strongest relationships among Asians, followed by Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI).Obesity, age, and Asian and NHPI race were positively associated with AN.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Weighted prevalence of obesity and acanthosis nigricans (AN) in the United States Affiliated Pacific Jurisdictions. AN = acanthosis nigricans.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Weighted prevalence of obesity and acanthosis nigricans (AN) by Pacific Race. AN = acanthosis nigricans.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Weighted unadjusted prevalence of acanthosis nigricans (AN) comparing obese to healthy weight children. AN = acanthosis nigricans.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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