Factors Associated with Childhood Obesity in Asian Countries: A Review of Recent Literature

Childhood obesity is a substantial health issue in both developed and developing countries. As obesity is associated with the development of a number of co-morbidities in childhood or adulthood, including hypertension, insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia and psychological disorders, the identification of associated factors, termed obesogenic factors, is important for the effective prevention of obesity. Many previous review articles have focused on obesogenic factors in the Western countries, predominantly based on the data obtained from studies on Western paediatric populations. Although we were able to identify a single review article conducted in an Asian country, there is a lack of cross-sectional studies from Asian populations. Therefore, the present article reviewed previously published reports from the Asian countries, including East, Southeast and South Asia and Iran. Initially, articles evaluating the relationship between childhood obesity and obesogenic factors published in the last ten years were identified by searching the PubMed database. Obesogenic factors included in the present review were nutrition, physical activity, sleep, socioeconomic status, birth weight and genetics. Articles were selected based on the quality, i.e., the number of enrolled subjects and the analytical method (i.e. multivariate analysis). Then, the association of each obesogenic factor with the development of obesity was reviewed. Finally, interventional programs for the prevention of obesity currently utilized in the Asian countries were briefly described. Chapter 2