Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017;90(4):385-391.
doi: 10.15386/cjmed-758. Epub 2017 Oct 20.

Children`s lifestyle behaviors in relation to anthropometric indices: a family practice study

Aida Puia  1 , Daniel-Corneliu Leucuta  2
Affiliations

Children`s lifestyle behaviors in relation to anthropometric indices: a family practice study

Aida Puia et al. Clujul Med. 2017.

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity prevention in children represents one of the main concerns in primary care. In order to develop into a healthy adult, the child has to follow a healthy lifestyle in all aspects: nutritional, behavioral, physical and recreational. Our main goal was to identify which habits may influence the children's somatic development.

Method: Our study, performed in a family practice, consisted in a questionnaire regarding physical activity, diet and use of electronic devices.After obtaining the parent's and child's informed consent to participate in our cross-sectional study, 98 consecutive children aged 5-15 years, examined in the family practice, were enlisted. After collecting the answers, weight, height, waist circumference, wrist circumference, subscapular skinfold thickness were measured and body mass index was calculated.

Results: The analysis of the relationship between the anthropometric data showed a significant difference between girls and boys only in respect of the wrist circumference. The groups performing daily household activities had a significantly increased weight, BMI, abdominal and wrist circumference. Participation in physical education classes in school was associated significantly only with the wrist circumference. Frequent change of the option for extracurricular sport showed a significant difference in weight, waist circumference, and wrist in favor of the group that practiced many sports. Fast food diet and the type of alimentary habits of the family (home cooked, pre-cooked, or ordered food) showed differences between medians of the anthropometric indices with higher values for those eating more frequently fast food or ordered food, yet without reaching statistical significance.

Conclusion: Both girls and boys, in the presence of an unhealthy lifestyle (lack of recreational and educational physical activity, food habits, inappropriate time spent in front of a screen) had unfavorable adiposity indices.

Keywords: anthropometric indices; child obesity; family practice; life style.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Waters E, de Silva-Sanigorski A, Hall BJ, Brown T, Campbell KJ, Gao Y, et al. Interventions for preventing obesity in children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011 Dec;7(12):CD001871. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD001871.pub3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mocanu V, Galeşanu C, Măndăşescu S, Haliga R, Costan AR, Bădescu M. Depistarea si Preventia Obezitatii la Copii - Consideratii practice. [Detection and prevention of obesity in children. Practical considerations]. RJP. 2011;60(3):223–232.
    1. Cole TJ, Bellizzi MC, Flegal KM, Dietz WH. Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: international survey. BMJ. 2000;320(7244):1240–1243. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Taylor RW, Jones IE, Williams SM, Goulding A. Evaluation of waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and the conicity index as screening tools for high trunk fat mass, as measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, in children aged 3–19 y. Am J Clin Nutr. 2000;72(2):490–495. - PubMed
    1. Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire. Available from: http://www.midss.org/content/child-eating-behaviour-questionnaire-cebq.

LinkOut - more resources