Nutritional surveillance in Tuscany. Relationship between 8-9 y-old school children BMI and parents’ BMI and educational level

Introduction. Parents are responsible not only for the genetic structure of their children, but also for passing on their behaviours and attitudes toward life. It is, therefore, interesting to study if there is any connection between school-age children's obesity and that of their parents as well as between children's obesity and parents' educational level, as a partial indicator of the socio-economic status (SES) of the family in Tuscany. Methods. We gathered a statistical sample of 3,076 (1,583 males and 1,493 females) 8- to 9-year-old school children; their weight and height were measured by standardized personnel and instruments. We calculated the Body Mass Index (BMI) classes using Cole et al. cut-off for children and adolescents. A self-administered questionnaire revealed the parents' weight, height and educational level. The educational levels were classified as high, medium and low. Results. The prevalence of obese children rose with increases in the parents' BMI class: from 1.6% for underweight mothers to 22.8% for obese mothers and from 7.1% for under-normal-weight fathers to 18.7% for obese fathers (P < 0.001). An inverse relationship was observed for the parents' educational level, the lowest educational level corresponding to the highest prevalence of obese children: 19.7% for mothers with a low educational level compared to 2.7% for mothers with a high educational level (P < 0.001); similarly, the corresponding prevalence for fathers was 13.0% compared to 3.8% (P < 0.05). Conclusion. The parents' obesity and the cultural resources of the family, particularly the mother's, seem to influence the prevalence of overweight and obesity in pre-pubertal children in Tuscany.