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
. 2022 Aug;30(8):1670-1680.
doi: 10.1002/oby.23500.

Childhood obesity risk factors by race and ethnicity

María Pineros-Leano  1   2 , Natalie Grafft  1   2 , Liliana Aguayo  2   3
Affiliations

Childhood obesity risk factors by race and ethnicity

María Pineros-Leano et al. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: Childhood obesity is a public health concern that often worsens with age. Although several risk factors at the child and maternal levels have been identified in cross-sectional studies, less is known about their long-term contribution to racial/ethnic disparities in childhood obesity. This study examines child- and maternal-level factors associated with the growth trajectories of White, Black, and Latino children.

Methods: Group-based trajectory models were used to identify BMI z score trajectories from birth to 9 years of age among White, Black, and Latino children. The associations of child- and maternal-level factors with the trajectory group identified as at risk for obesity were examined using adjusted logistic regression analysis, stratified by race/ethnicity.

Results: Among White children, fast-food consumption (odds ratio [OR] = 1.66; 95% CI: 1.09-2.52) was associated with higher odds of following an at-risk trajectory. Among Black and Latino children, prepregnancy BMI was associated with following an at-risk trajectory (OR = 1.05; 95% CI: 1.03-1.08 for Black children, and OR = 1.12; 95% CI: 1.07-1.17 for Latino children).

Conclusions: These findings showed racial/ethnic differences in the risk factors that influence the likelihood of obesity during childhood. Further research is needed to identify modifiable racial/ethnic specific risk factors to guide obesity-prevention interventions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: The authors declared no conflict of interest

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
BMI z-score trajectories by racial/ethnic group Note: Copyright was obtained from Springer Nature to reproduce these figures.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hales CM, Carroll MD, Fryar CD, Ogden CL. Prevalence of obesity among adults and youth: United States, 2015–2016 2017. - PubMed
    1. Cunningham SA, Kramer MR, Narayan KMV. Incidence of Childhood Obesity in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine 2014;370(5):403–11. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kumar S, Kelly AS. Review of Childhood Obesity: From Epidemiology, Etiology, and Comorbidities to Clinical Assessment and Treatment. Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2017;92(2):251–65. - PubMed
    1. Skinner AC, Ravanbakht SN, Skelton JA, Perrin EM, Armstrong SC. Prevalence of Obesity and Severe Obesity in US Children, 1999–2016. Pediatrics 2018;141(3):e20173459. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of Childhood and Adult Obesity in the United States, 2011–2012. JAMA 2014;311(8):806–14. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types