Children at RiskAssociations Between Obesity and Comorbid Mental Health, Developmental, and Physical Health Conditions in a Nationally Representative Sample of US Children Aged 10 to 17
Section snippets
Sample
The 2007 NSCH was conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics as a module of the State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey. The NSCH used a stratified random-digit-dial sampling design to achieve a nationally representative sample of 91,642 parents of children 0 to 17 years of age. One child was randomly selected from each household, and a detailed telephone interview was conducted with the parent or guardian who knew the most about the child’s health and health care.
Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity
The estimated prevalence of overweight based on parent-reported height and weight for all children aged 10 to 17 was 15% (95% confidence interval [CI] 14–16), and prevalence of obesity was 16% (95% CI 15–17). Wide social differentials in rates of overweight and obesity are apparent (Table 1). Obesity rates were nearly 3 times higher for children in poor families versus those at 400% FPL or greater (27% vs 10%), and nearly 2 times higher for black and Hispanic children versus white non-Hispanic
Discussion
Overweight and obesity were associated with poorer health status, lower emotional functioning, and school-related problems. Greater weight was also associated with higher rates of specific comorbid conditions, including ADHD, conduct disorders, depression, learning disabilities, developmental delay, good/fair/poor teeth, bone/joint/muscle problems, asthma, allergies, headaches, and ear infections. Although controlling for social status dampened the magnitude of these associations, most
Conclusions
The past 20 years have shown dramatic increases in the prevalence of childhood obesity, with recent studies showing that obesity has almost doubled between 1988 and 2006.3, 61 This same time period has also shown large increases in the prevalence of other childhood-onset health conditions such as ADHD, conduct problems, learning difficulties, and asthma.62, 63 The finding that comorbid conditions tend to cluster within individuals and that there are common social risk factors that might
Acknowledgments
Supported in part by funding from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration Interdisciplinary Maternal and Child Health Training Program (2 T76M600014:11) (Dr Halfon) and NIH LRP (Dr Larson). We also thank Dena Herman, PhD, for her comments; Louba Aaronson, who assisted with data analysis; and Amy Graber, who assisted with document preparation.
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