Maternal BMI and Country of Birth as Indicators of Childhood Obesity in Children of Mexican Origin

• Published in: Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) Vol. 15; no. 10; pp. 2512 - 2519
• Main Authors: Hernández‐Valero, María A., Wilkinson, Anna V., Forman, Michele R., Etzel, Carol J., Cao, Yumei, Bárcenas, Carlos H., Strom, Sara S., Spitz, Margaret R., Bondy, Melissa L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-10-2007
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; BMI; Body Mass Index; Cancer; Child; Child, Preschool; childhood obesity; Children & youth; Cohort analysis; Cohort Studies; Country of birth; Disease control; Epidemiology; Female; Hispanic Americans; Hispanics; Households; Humans; Male; Mexican Americans; Mexico; Minority & ethnic groups; Mothers; Nutrition; Obesity; Obesity - epidemiology; Obesity - ethnology; Overweight; Prevalence; Research methodology; risk factors; Socioeconomic factors; socio‐economic deprivation; United States - epidemiology; United States - ethnology; Womens health; United States; Mexico; United States > US; Texas
• ISSN: 1930-7381; 1930-739X
• DOI: 10.1038/oby.2007.298

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate the relationship between maternal and childhood BMI at baseline in a group of 5‐ to 18‐year‐old children and their mothers, all of whom were of Mexican origin, low socioeconomic status, and enrolled in a cohort study in Houston, TX.
Research Methods and Procedures: Using data from 438 mother‐child dyads residing in the same household, we completed logistic regression analyses to determine maternal factors associated with the child being overweight or at‐risk‐for‐overweight, after adjusting for the child's gender, age, and level of physical activity and other maternal confounders.
Results: Almost one‐half of the boys and girls (47% and 44%, respectively) were either overweight or at‐risk‐for‐overweight. Obese mothers were twice as likely to have an overweight and/or at‐risk‐for‐overweight child compared with normal‐weight mothers. Women born in the U.S. were twice as likely to have an overweight and/or at‐risk‐for‐overweight child compared with women born in Mexico. In addition, women with less than a high school education were twice as likely to have an overweight child compared with their more educated peers.
Discussion: The high prevalence of overweight or at‐risk‐for‐overweight among Mexican‐origin children of low socioeconomic status suggests a continued need to develop and implement culturally sensitive preventive interventions for this minority population. Our data also suggest a need to tailor such interventions particularly for children of obese mothers and those born in the U.S.