News Reader.info

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

body shapes. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Subscribe

to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per year only $21.58 per issue Learn more Buy this article * Purchase on SpringerLink * Instant access to full article PDF

Buy now Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact

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

LOW AND MIDDLE INCOME TO HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES Article 17 July 2021 ASSOCIATION BETWEEN NORMAL-WEIGHT OBESITY AND CARDIOMETABOLIC RISK FACTORS AMONG ADULTS IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA Article

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