Familial and socio-environmental predictors of overweight and obesity among primary school children in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

INTRODUCTION A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the familial and socio-environmental predictors of overweight and obesity among 1430, 9-12 year-old primary school children and their parents in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. METHODOLOGY Body weight and height were measured and body mass index was calculated. Modified Child Feeding (CFQ) and Determinants of Adolescent Social Well-being and Health (DASH) questionnaires were used to measure familial and socio-environmental factors. RESULTS A total of 17.9% of the children were overweight while 16.0% were obese. Positive relationships were found between child's BMI and parent's BMI (r = 0.129, p < or = 0.01), concern about child's weight (r = 0.125, p < or = 0.01) and restriction (r = 0.057, p < or = 0.05) to unhealthy foods. However, negative relationships were found between child's BMI with pressure to eat (r = -0.135, p < or = 0.01) and neighbourhood safety perception (r = -0.053, p < or = 0.05). The logistic regression analysis showed that being male (Exp (beta) = 0.538; 95% CI = 0.421-0.687), higher parent's BMI (Exp (beta) = 1.055; 95% CI = 1.028-1.082), higher concern about child's weight (Exp (beta) = 1.082; 95% CI = 1.030-1.127), low pressure to eat (Exp (beta) = 0.857; 95% CI = 0.801-0.916) and low perception of neighbourhood safety (Exp (beta) = 0.951; 95% CI = 0.913-0.990) were significantly associated with increased risk of overweight. CONCLUSION Parents should be the main target for education to modify children's weight status. Further research should be carried out to understand the mechanism of influence of parents and the socio-environment on child's health.