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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #167206
Title: PREVALENCE OF OBESITY IN CHILDREN IN ALABAMA AND TEXAS PARTICIPATING IN SOCIAL PROGRAMS

Author
item FEESE, MICHELLE - UNIV OF ALABAMA-BIRMINGHA
item FRANKLIN, FRANK - UNIV OF ALABAMA-BIRM
item MURDOCK, MARIANNE - UNIV OF ALABAMA-BIRM
item HARRINGTON, KATHY - UNIV OF ALABAMA-BIRM
item BROWN-BINNS, MARIA - UNIV OF ALABAMA-BIRM
item Nicklas, Theresa
item HUGHES, SHERYL - BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MED
item MORALES, MIRIAM - BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MED

Submitted to: Journal of the American Medical Association
Publication Type: Research Notes
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2003
Publication Date: 4/9/2003
Citation: Feese, M., Franklin, F., Murdock, M., Harrington, K., Brown-Binns, M., Nicklas, T., Hughes, S., Morales, M. 2003. Prevalence of obesity in children in alabama and texas participating in social programs. Journal of the American Medical Association. 289(14):1780-1781.

Interpretive Summary: An Interpretive Summary Is Not Required

Technical Abstract: An increasing number of US children are becoming obese. In a nationally representative sample, Ogden et al found that 10.4% of children aged 2 to 5 years had a body mass index (BMI) above the 95th percentile. We examined the prevalence of overweight children by race, sex, and income in these 2 states with higher prevalence rates. Among the 1968 children enrolled in Head Start, 305 (15.5%) were overweight. In all racial and sex categories, the prevalence of overweight was significantly higher in Head Start sample than those reported by Ogden et al. Among the 1585 children in the Hi5+ sample, 24.4% were overweight. Each race and sex category of Hi5+ consistently exceeded the prevalence rate for overweight in Alabama as found in YRBSS data. In the Hi5+ sample, the prevalence of overweight among children from low-income families was not significantly different than that among children from higher-income families for any of the 4 race-by-sex categories. The prevalence of overweight in our Head Start sample in Texas and Alabama is much higher than that reported in national surveys.