Characteristics of Social Determinants of Overweight and Obesity in Urban and Rural Schoolchildren (on the example of the Novosibirsk Region)

Abstract

Introduction: The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity demonstrates a significant increase. Social factors can contribute to the risk of these medical conditions, which determines the relevance of their consideration for the development of appropriate comprehensive measures for prevention. Objective: To study the social and health profile of rural and urban school pupils in order to establish factors contributing to overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. Materials and methods: We analyzed data of a questionnaire-based survey of 2,159 schoolchildren aged 7 to 17 years living in the city of Novosibirsk and the Novosibirsk Region. The survey was conducted in accordance with the program recommended by the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing for studying nutrition of schoolchildren within the framework of the National Demography Project in May 2020.The statistical analysis was performed in Excel and Statistica 10.0 using parametric methods, correlation and regression analyses. Differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05. Results: We found that the proportion of overweight children was 24.6 % and 25.2 % among urban and rural schoolchildren, respectively; 24.2 % of the children were brought up in single-parent families and 20.0 % – in low-income families. We established a strong correlation between overweight in both parents and that in children, in fathers and children (r = 0.88, p ≤ 0.05 and r = 0.76, p ≤ 0.05, respectively), and a moderate correlation between overweight in mothers and in children (r = 0.54, p ≤ 0.05). We also revealed a statistically significant correlation between the lack of higher education in parents and overweight in children (r = 0.63, p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: Our findings have served as the basis for developing a model for prevention of overweight and obesity and its implementation in the family and school environment.