Drivers of Overweight/Obesity in 4–11 Year Old Children of Australians and Immigrants; Evidence from Growing Up in Australia

Tehzeeb Zulfiqar*, Lyndall Strazdins, Huong Dinh, Cathy Banwell, Catherine D’Este

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    16 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Despite high overweight/obesity rates in children of Australian immigrants, the risk factors are unknown. We investigated behavioural risk factors and their association with overweight/obesity in 4–11 year-old children by immigrant status. We conducted cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of 8 years data from the longitudinal study of Australian children. Immigrant children from low-and-middle-income-countries had higher overweight/obesity rates across all ages. These children had higher vegetables and sugar-sweetened-beverages intake, higher sedentary activities and lower organized-sports participation than immigrant children from high-income-countries or Australian-children. Organized-sports participation and screen-time converged to the Australian norms in 10–11 year-old boys, but not in girls. Preference for sedentary activities and screen-time explained the differences in overweight/obesity by maternal immigrant status in boys but not in girls. The difference in drivers of overweight/obesity amongst immigrant children from low-and-middle-income-countries suggest more nuanced age, sex and culturally sensitive preventive health messages for immigrants.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)737-750
    Number of pages14
    JournalJournal of Immigrant and Minority Health
    Volume21
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2019

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