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Determinants of obesity in the Ulm Research on Metabolism, Exercise and Lifestyle in Children (URMEL-ICE)

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Abstract

We investigated the prevalence of overweight and obesity in German schoolchildren and analyzed determinants of overweight. In the context of a randomized intervention study, a baseline cross-sectional assessment was carried out in 2006. During a physical examination, height, weight, skin fold thickness, and upper arm and waist circumferences were measured according to a standardized protocol among 1.079 children aged 6–9 years. Overweight and obesity were classified according to the definitions of the International Obesity Task Force. Parents completed a questionnaire on potential determinants of overweight. Logistic regression models were calculated for determinants of overweight and obesity. The prevalence of overweight was 16.5% in boys and 17.3% in girls and of obesity 3.5% and 3.6%, respectively. Migration (29.4 %) was correlated with overweight and obesity. In particular, among boys with migration background, overweight (24.0%) and obesity (6.6%) were highly prevalent. Higher obesity prevalence was associated with maternal smoking during pregnancy, parental overweight, and low parental education. Indicators for physical inactivity such as watching television more than 1 h per weekday, participation in club sports less than once a week, consumption of sweetened drinks (≥3 times per week), and skipping breakfast before school were associated with childhood obesity. Our results provide further evidence that parental factors such as migration background and education are strongly associated with body mass of the offspring. Physically inactive children with regular consumption of sweetened drinks and no breakfast were prone to be overweight or obese. Changes of these lifestyle factors as targets of interventions are promising to prevent childhood obesity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participating children as well as their parents and the teachers. The authors thank all members of the study team for their excellent work.

The study has been funded by the Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Epidemiology, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany

    Gabriele Nagel, Jochen Klenk, Richard Peter & Stephan K. Weiland

  2. Division of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Obesity Unit, Department of Paediatrics, University of Ulm, 89075, Ulm, Germany

    Martin Wabitsch

  3. Division of Paediatric Cardiology, Department of Paediatrics, Ulm University Medical Centre, Ulm, Germany

    Christoph Galm & Swantje Berg

  4. Division of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Ulm University, Eythstr. 24, 89075, Ulm, Germany

    Swantje Berg

  5. Division of Sports and Rehabilitation, Department of Internal Medicine II—Cardiology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany

    Susanne Brandstetter, Dmytro Prokopchuk, Ronald Steiner & Juergen Steinacker

  6. Transfer Center for Neuroscience and Learning (ZNL), University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany

    Michael Fritz, Sanna Stroth & Olivia Wartha

Authors
  1. Gabriele Nagel
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  2. Martin Wabitsch
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  3. Christoph Galm
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  4. Swantje Berg
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  5. Susanne Brandstetter
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  6. Michael Fritz
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  8. Richard Peter
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  9. Dmytro Prokopchuk
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  10. Ronald Steiner
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  12. Olivia Wartha
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  13. Stephan K. Weiland
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  14. Juergen Steinacker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin Wabitsch.

Additional information

Stephan K. Weiland (deceased).

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Nagel, G., Wabitsch, M., Galm, C. et al. Determinants of obesity in the Ulm Research on Metabolism, Exercise and Lifestyle in Children (URMEL-ICE). Eur J Pediatr 168, 1259–1267 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-009-1016-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-009-1016-y

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