Early life factors on childhood overweight and obesity among preschoolers in Putrajaya, 2017

Background: Childhood obesity is becoming a global epidemic in this new era. According to WHO, the number of overweight children under the age of five in 2014 worldwide is estimated to be over 42 million and more than 70% of them are living in developing countries. Similar problem faced in Malaysia as being labelled as the fattest population in South East Asia. Objectives: To determine the early life factors that contribute to childhood overweight and obesity among preschoolers in Putrajaya in 2017, which include sociodemographic factors, pre-and perinatal factors, infant feeding and weaning practices, early child care, family structure and parental behaviors, and psychosocial factors. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted by cluster random sampling among 897 preschool students from all registered preschools in Putrajaya. Anthropometry measurements of body weight and height measurements were performed on the preschoolers and questionnaires were distributed to the mothers. Calculated BMI was used to determine child’s overweight and obesity status following BMI-for-age z-scores of WHO Growth Standards 2006 and WHO Growth Reference 2007. Results: The sample comprised of 897 children, with a mean age of 5.4 ± 0.58 years. The prevalence of overweight and obese children was 7.3%, which can be predicted with elder child’s age (AOR: 2.595; 95%CI: 1.281 – 5.254), higher mother’s education level (AOR: 4.909; 95%CI: 1.065 – 22.621), higher maternal BMI (AOR: 1.122; 95%CI: 1.034 – 1.219), and unknown caregiver’s education status (AOR: 2.907; 95%CI: 1.144 – 7.386). Conclusion: Four early life factors can be predicted with childhood overweight and obesity among preschoolers in Putrajaya, which included in three domain of early life factors of socio-demographic, pre-and perinatal, and early childcare.

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