Table 5.
Bivariate associations‡ between thirteen health-risk behaviours and obesity in the total study group§, by country: nationally representative samples of 6–9-year-olds, WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative, school year 2007/2008
| Bulgaria | Czech Republic | Lithuania | Portugal | Sweden | Total five countries | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health-risk behaviour | OR | 95 % CI | OR | 95 % CI | OR | 95 % CI | OR | 95 % CI | OR | 95 % CI | OR | 95 % CI | |
| Breakfast and food consumption frequency | |||||||||||||
| 1.|| | Having breakfast <7 d/week | 1·33* | 1·03, 1·72 | 2·07*** | 1·37, 3·10 | 1·71*** | 1·35, 2·16 | 1·64* | 1·03, 2·62 | 1·40 | 0·83, 2·37 | 1·57*** | 1·36, 1·82 |
| 2.|| | Eating fruit¶ <7 d/week | 0·85 | 0·68, 1·06 | 1·23 | 0·84, 1·80 | 0·85 | 0·67, 1·07 | 0·86 | 0·69, 1·08 | 0·95 | 0·71, 1·28 | 0·90 | 0·80, 1·01 |
| 3.|| | Eating vegetables (excluding potatoes) <7 d/week | 0·77* | 0·59, 0·99 | 1·48 | 0·93, 2·34 | 1·07 | 0·81, 1·41 | 0·99 | 0·79, 1·23 | 1·11 | 0·84, 1·46 | 1·00 | 0·89, 1·13 |
| 4.|| | Drinking soft drinks containing sugar >3 d/week | 0·81 | 0·64, 1·02 | 0·95 | 0·65, 1·40 | 0·99 | 0·74, 1·32 | 1·28 | 0·98, 1·66 | 1·31 | 0·85, 2·03 | 1·00 | 0·87, 1·14 |
| 5.|| | Eating foods like potato chips (crisps), corn chips, popcorn or peanuts >3 d/week | 0·67*** | 0·53, 0·84 | 1·28 | 0·53, 3·06 | 0·64* | 0·41, 0·99 | 1·07 | 0·68, 1·70 | – | 0·72*** | 0·60, 0·86 | |
| 6.|| | Eating foods like candy bars or chocolate >3 d/week | 0·91 | 0·72, 1·14 | 0·72 | 0·45, 1·15 | 0·79 | 0·63, 1·01 | 0·96 | 0·68, 1·35 | 0·34 | 0·08, 1·41 | 0·85* | 0·74, 0·97 |
| 7.|| | Eating foods like biscuits, cakes, doughnuts or pies >3 d/week | 0·65*** | 0·52, 0·81 | 0·61 | 0·37, 1·00 | 0·79 | 0·61, 1·01 | 0·84 | 0·65, 1·08 | 0·71 | 0·39, 1·31 | 0·74*** | 0·64, 0·84 |
| 8.|| | Eating foods like pizza, French fries (chips), hamburgers, sausages or meat pies >3 d/week | 0·89 | 0·71, 1·12 | 2·25 | 0·83, 6·04 | 1·16 | 0·77, 1·76 | 0·92 | 0·59, 1·43 | 1·45 | 0·63, 3·33 | 0·97 | 0·82, 1·17 |
| Physical activity | |||||||||||||
| 9.|| | Using inactive transportation going to and from school | 1·10 | 0·86, 1·42 | 0·71 | 0·46, 1·08 | 1·26 | 0·97, 1·62 | 0·91 | 0·70, 1·19 | 1·19 | 0·87, 1·63 | 1·07 | 0·94, 1·22 |
| 10.|| | Going to a sports or dancing club <2 d/week | 0·81 | 0·62, 1·06 | 1·06 | 0·70, 1·60 | 1·35* | 1·03, 1·76 | 1·12 | 0·88, 1·43 | 1·17 | 0·88, 1·56 | 1·09 | 0·96, 1·23 |
| 11.|| | Playing outside <1 h/d | 1·65* | 1·05, 2·60 | 0·71 | 0·28, 1·80 | 1·50* | 1·02, 2·20 | 1·04 | 0·83, 1·31 | 1·51 | 0·94, 2·45 | 1·21* | 1·03, 1·44 |
| Screen time and sleep duration | |||||||||||||
| 12.|| | Spending screen time ≥2 h/d | 1·16 | 0·90, 1·50 | 1·64* | 1·10, 2·46 | 1·66*** | 1·24, 2·24 | 1·24 | 0·98, 1·57 | 1·73*** | 1·31, 2·29 | 1·43*** | 1·26, 1·62 |
| 13.|| | Sleep duration <9 h/d | 1·03 | 0·78, 1·36 | 0·79 | 0·31, 2·01 | 0·90 | 0·62, 1·30 | 1·38* | 1·02, 1·85 | 2·32** | 1·28, 4·22 | 1·15 | 0·97, 1·36 |
–, no observations for obese children.
Significance levels: *P<0·05, **P≤0·01, ***P≤0·001; significant associations are shown in bold font.
All bivariate analyses were adjusted for the children’s sex and age and included random effects for the primary sampling units. The analyses for the five countries together also included random effects for country.
Normal-weight or obese children with complete information on sex, whose age was between 6 and 9 years old, whose weight and height were measured, whose BMI-for-age Z-score was within the normal range (≥–5 and ≤+5) and who returned a filled out family record form. Obesity is defined as the proportion of children with a BMI-for-age value >+2 Z-score (i.e. BMI-for-age above +2 sd relative to the median BMI-for-age of the 2007 WHO growth reference)( 25 ) and was compared against normal-weight children (BMI-for-age value ≥–2 and ≤+1 Z-score).
Reference categories for each health-risk behaviour were: (i) having breakfast every day; (ii) eating fruit every day; (iii) eating vegetables (excluding potatoes) every day; (iv) drinking soft drinks containing sugar ≤3 d/week; (v) eating foods like potato chips (crisps), corn chips, popcorn or peanuts ≤3 d/week; (vi) eating foods like candy bars or chocolate ≤3 d/week; (vii) eating foods like biscuits, cakes, doughnuts or pies ≤3 d/week; (viii) eating foods like pizza, French fries (chips), hamburgers, sausages or meat pies ≤3 d/week; (ix) using active transportation going to and from school; (x) going to a sports or dancing club ≥2 d/week; (xi) playing outside ≥1 h/d, (xii) spending screen time <2 h/d; and (xiii) sleep duration ≥9 h/d.
Combination of ‘fresh fruit’ and ‘100 % fruit juice’.