Table 2.
Characteristics associated with fast food use categorised by frequency of fast food consumption
| Everyday | 4–6 times per week | 2–3 times per week | Once a week | Less than once a week | Significance | |
| Gender (%) | ||||||
| Male | 11 | 12 | 40 | 25 | 12 | 0.15 |
| Female | 8.2 | 6.8 | 28.8 | 34.2 | 21.9 | |
| Age | 12.5 (12–14) | 13 (11–14) | 13 (11–14) | 12 (11–14) | 13 (12–14) | 0.51 |
| BMI | 17.8 (14–23) | 18.3 (15–22) | 19.6 (15–34) | 20.3 (14–36) | 21.4 (17–29) | 0.01 |
| BMI for age–gender percentile | 41 (1–96) | 55 (8–85) | 62.5 (3–100) | 76 (1–100) | 74.5 (27–100) | 0.15 |
| Entitlement to free school meals (%) | ||||||
| Yes | 9.6 | 7.8 | 35.7 | 27.8 | 19.1 | 0.74 |
| No | 9.4 | 14.1 | 32.8 | 28.1 | 15.6 | |
| Ethnicity (%) | ||||||
| White | 5.3 | 0 | 34.2 | 34.2 | 26.3 | |
| Asian | 12.6 | 11.5 | 29.9 | 26.4 | 19.5 | 0.28* |
| Black/African–Carribeans | 8.6 | 14.3 | 45.7 | 25.7 | 5.7 | |
| Others | 5 | 15 | 35 | 30 | 15 | |
| Level of physical activity (%) | ||||||
| During weekdays | ||||||
| <2 h | 53.3 | 52.9 | 39.3 | 40.8 | 35.5 | 0.68 |
| 2–5 h | 26.7 | 17.6 | 41.1 | 42.9 | 38.7 | |
| >5 h | 20.0 | 29.4 | 19.6 | 16.3 | 25.8 | |
| During weekends | ||||||
| <2 h | 50.0 | 53.3 | 35.7 | 41.3 | 25.0 | 0.30* |
| 2–5 h | 21.4 | 6.7 | 33.9 | 30.4 | 46.9 | |
| >5 h | 28.6 | 40 | 30.4 | 28.3 | 28.1 | |
| Choice of portion of chips | ||||||
| % Of children choosing large portion | 19.6 | 14.3 | 28.6 | 21.4 | 16.1 | 0.017 |
| % Of children choosing small portion | 5.8 | 6.7 | 36.7 | 32.5 | 18.3 | |
| First choice of beverage | ||||||
| % Of children choosing fizzy sweetened | 44.4 | 88.9 | 73 | 68.6 | 51.5 | 0.007 |
| % Of children choosing not sweetened | 55.6 | 11.1 | 27 | 31.4 | 48.5 | |
*
The χ2 test result is not valid here because more than 20% of the squares have expected value less than 5 counts. Figures in parentheses denote the IQR.
BMI, body mass index.