Overweight and obesity: Family factors, diet, and physical activity in school children from middle to high socioeconomic level in Cali, Colombia

Introduction: Colombia is a country with overweight and obesity problems, which, in many cases, are due to bad eating habits. Objective: To describe the prevalence of overweight and obesity, as well as family, dietary, and physical activity factors in a group of schoolchildren between 6 and 9 years old from socioeconomic level 4 in Cali, Colombia. Materials and methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 150 children from an educational institution in Cali. To collect the sociodemographic data we used a previously validated instrument; the anthropometric measurements were analyzed to diagnose the nutritional status in the World Health Organization (WHO) Anthro Plus program program. A total of 62 children were identified as overweight and obese. Results: Regarding the nutritional diagnosis, 42 (28%) children were overweight and 20 (13%) were obese; 78% belonged to socioeconomic levels 4 and 5. As for the family characteristics, 47% had only one sibling and 25% were only children; 76% of the mothers and 70% of the fathers were professionals; 95% of the children did not do significant physical activity. Conclusions: Our analysis showed an association between the nutritional status and the number of siblings; schoolchildren with a higher prevalence of overweight or obesity tended to be only children or have just one sibling. We also found associations between mothers’ age, especially at ages 41-50 years, parents’ schooling and whether they had an occupation or job outside the home, as well as belonging to socioeconomic levels 4 and 5.