Skip Navigation


The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on October 28, 2006
The European Journal of Public Health 2007 17(1):17-20; doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckl246
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
17/1/17    most recent
ckl246v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Niclasen, B. V.-L.
Right arrow Articles by Schnohr, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Niclasen, B. V.-L.
Right arrow Articles by Schnohr, C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Child and adolescent health

Overweight and obesity at school entry as predictor of overweight in adolescence in an Arctic child population

Birgit V.-L. Niclasen1, Max G. Petzold2 and Christina Schnohr3

1 District Medical Clinic, Nuuk Greenland
2 Nordic School of Public Health, Göteborg Sweden
3 University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen Denmark

Correspondence: Birgit Vollmer-Larsen Niclasen, District Medical Clinic, PO Box 1001, Nuuk 3900, Greenland, tel: +299344413, fax: +299344425, e-mail: niclasen{at}greennet.gl

Background: The aim of this study was to analyse the changes in the prevalence of overweight, obesity, and in mean body mass index (BMI) among school children, and to analyse the predictive value of overweight and obesity at school entry to overweight and obesity in adolescence in an Arctic child population. Methods: Retrospective cohort study. A database was created on the basis of files from health examinations. Data on children aged 5–7 years and 13–17 years and the subsample of children followed from school entry to adolescence was analysed. Results: During the years 1972–2002 the prevalence of overweight and obesity increased significantly, and mean BMI rose by 5.6% at school entry and by 4.7% in adolescence. Sensitivity and specificity: Of the children being obese in adolescence, 56.3% were already obese at school entry; for the overweight children, 50.6% were also overweight or obese at school entry. Of the children with normal weight in adolescence, 91.9% were also normal weight at school entry. The positive predictive value of being overweight or obese combined at school entry was 59.5%, i.e. more than every second retained their overweight or obesity in adolescence. Only 10% of the obese school entry children had gained normal weight in adolescence. The negative predictive value for normal weight children at school entry was 91.3%. Conclusion: The study showed that during 30 years from 1972, overweight and obesity among school children in Greenland have increased dramatically. Overweight and obesity at school entry were shown to be a good predictor of overweight or obesity in adolescence.

Keywords: body mass index, Nuuk, overweight, prediction, school children


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.