Sociodemographic distribution of measures of body fatness among children and adolescents in new south wales, australia
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ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Obesity in childhood and adolescence is associated with health problems, increases in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and a greater likelihood of becoming
overweight as an adult. A description of the sociodemographic distribution of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents in the population may allow us to determine if health
promotion resources should be differentially allocated to particular groups. METHODS: The New South Wales Schools Fitness and Physical Activity Survey, 1997 (_n_=5518) was a cross-sectional
survey which measured height, weight, waist and hip girths and skinfold thicknesses of randomly selected New South Wales students in school years 4, 6, 8 and 10. Height and weight only were
measured among Year 2 students. The mean ages of students in school years 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 were 7.3 y, 9.3 y, 11.3 y, 13.3 y and 15.3 y, respectively. The values of body mass index (BMI),
waist girth, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and sum of three skinfolds for students resident in urban and rural areas and in tertiles of socioeconomic status (SES) were compared. RESULTS: There
were no differences on any of the anthropometric measures between urban and rural boys and girls, with the exception that WHR was higher among urban girls. Among boys, there were no
differences between the SES tertiles on any of the measures. Among girls, each of the anthropometric measures (except sum of skinfolds) was inversely associated with SES, with body fatness
tending to be lower in the high SES tertile, compared with the low and middle SES tertiles. None of the statistical interactions between school year and body fatness was significant,
suggesting that the relationship is consistent from childhood to adolescence. CONCLUSION: On the basis of these results, we suggest that health promotion programs aimed at weight management
among Australian girls of lower SES are not warranted. We recommend that health promotion programs emphasize regular physical activity, a healthy diet and acceptance of the normal range of
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customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS ASSOCIATION OF DIETARY INTAKE, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, AND SEDENTARY BEHAVIOURS WITH OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY AMONG 282,213 ADOLESCENTS IN 89
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Open access 20 December 2023 BODY COMPOSITION, PHYSICAL FITNESS AND CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS IN 9-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN Article Open access 17 February 2022 AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND
AFFILIATIONS * Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia ML Booth, P Macaskill & R Lazarus * Department of Paediatrics and Child Health,
University of Sydney, NSW, Australia LA Baur Authors * ML Booth View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * P Macaskill View author publications
You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * R Lazarus View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * LA Baur View author
publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to ML Booth. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
CITE THIS ARTICLE Booth, M., Macaskill, P., Lazarus, R. _et al._ Sociodemographic distribution of measures of body fatness among children and adolescents in New South Wales, Australia. _Int
J Obes_ 23, 456–462 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0800841 Download citation * Received: 06 April 1998 * Revised: 09 November 1998 * Accepted: 02 December 1998 * Published: 26 May
1999 * Issue Date: 01 May 1999 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0800841 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative KEYWORDS * adolescents *
overweight * body mass index * skinfold thickness * waist girth * social class