Background
Methods
Sample
Assessments
Statistical analysis
Results
Socio-demographic characteristics of the sample
Total sample (%) | Eastern Europe (%) | Western Europe (%) | P value | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total sample size
|
5206
|
3710
|
1496
| ||
Age
| Years mean (SD) | 8.6 (1.32) | 8.7 (1.25) | 8.4 (1.47) | <0.0001 |
Gender
| Male (n = 2613) | 50.2 | 50.1 | 50.5 | 0.760 |
Female (n = 2592) | 49.8 | 49.9 | 49.5 | ||
Number of children living at home
| 1 (n = 1473) | 28.3 | 30.7 | 22.5 | <0.0001 |
2 or 3 (n = 3085) | 59.3 | 54.4 | 71.2 | ||
≥4 (n = 642) | 12.3 | 14.8 | 6.4 | ||
Marital status
| Single/Never Married/Separated/Divorced/Widowed (n = 739) | 14.9 | 17.3 | 8.9 | <0.0001 |
Married/Remarried/Cohabitation/Other (n = 4214) | 85.1 | 82.7 | 91.1 | ||
Mother’s education
| High school not completed (n = 597) | 13.2 | 17.1 | 2.1 | <0.0001 |
High school completed (n = 1676) | 37.1 | 40.6 | 26.9 | ||
Continued after high school (n = 2245) | 49.7 | 42.3 | 71 | ||
Age of mother
| Years mean (SD) | 36.9 (5.71) | 35.4 (5.4) | 40.5 (4.7) | <0.0001 |
Age of father
| Years mean (SD) | 39.4 (6.15) | 37.9 (5.91) | 42.7 (5.3) | <0.0001 |
Mother professionally inactive
| Yes (n = 1567) | 32.9 | 37.3 | 21.7 | <0.0001 |
No (n = 3200) | 67.1 | 62.7 | 78.3 | ||
Area
| Rural (n = 545) | 12.9 | 36.5 | 52.9 | <0.0001 |
Urban (n = 3667) | 87.1 | 63.5 | 47.1 | ||
PBAQ caring
| Average (n = 3299) | 67.8 | 64.4 | 75.9 | <0.0001 |
Below average (n = 824) | 16.9 | 17.2 | 16.3 | ||
Above average (n = 745) | 15.3 | 18.4 | 7.8 | ||
PBAQ autonomous
| Average (n = 3098) | 64.5 | 65.5 | 62 | <0.0001 |
Below average (n = 851) | 17.7 | 12.8 | 29.3 | ||
Above average (n = 855) | 17.8 | 21.7 | 8.6 | ||
Sport/physical activity
| Hours per week mean (SD) | 6.06 (7.43) | 6.28 (8.28) | 5.63 (5.36) | 0.0031 |
TV/video tapes/DVD
| Hours per week mean (SD) | 6.81 (6.00) | 7.16 (6.68) | 6.05 (4.00) | 0.962 |
Overweight
| No Overweight (n = 3533) | 79.5 | 75.5 | 88.1 | <0.0001 |
Overweight (n = 910) | 20.5 | 24.5 | 11.9 |
Prevalence of overweight and obesity
Individual correlates of overweight
Total sample | Eastern Europe | Western Europe | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Overw (%) | Overw (%) | pvalue | No Overw (%) | Overw (%) | pvalue | No Overw (%) | Overw (%) | pvalue | ||
Age
| Years mean (SD) | 8.7 (1.33) | 8.6 (1.28) | 0.16 | 8.8 (1.23) | 8.7 (1.23) | <0.01 | 8.4 (1.46) | 8.4 (1.47) | 0.931 |
Mother’s age
| Years mean (SD) | 37.4 (5.60) | 36.3 (5.63) | <0.0001 | 35.7 (5.31) | 35.3 (5.34) | 0.095 | 40.5 (4.68) | 40.5 (4.89) | 0.932 |
Father’s age
| Years mean (SD) | 39.9 (6.05) | 38.6 (6.12) | <0.0001 | 38.1 (5.81) | 37.5 (5.77) | 0.018 | 42.8 (5.26) | 42.7 (5.71) | 0.356 |
Sport/physical activity
| Hours per week mean (SD) | 6.2 (7.78) | 5.9 (6.65) | 0.056 | 6.5 (8.99) | 6.1 (7.02) | 0.235 | 5.7 (5.44) | 5.3 (5.06) | 0.214 |
TV/video tapes/DVD
| Hours per week mean (SD) | 6.8 (5.60) | 7.5 (6.93) | 0.264 | 7.2 (6.50) | 7.7 (7.38) | 0.221 | 6.0 (3.90) | 6.3 (4.57) | 0.902 |
Gender
| Boys | 48.9 | 53.6 | 0.010 | 47.5 | 55.9 | <0.0001 | 51.4 | 43.7 | 0.06 |
Girls | 51.1 | 46.4 | 52.5 | 44.1 | 48.6 | 56.3 | ||||
N° children at home
| 1 | 26.5 | 34.4 | <0.0001 | 28.3 | 36.9 | <0.0001 | 23.1 | 23.4 | 0.673 |
2 or 3 | 61.9 | 55.4 | 57.0 | 51.5 | 71.0 | 72.5 | ||||
≥4 | 11.6 | 10.2 | 14.6 | 11.6 | 5.9 | 4.2 | ||||
Marital status
| Single/Never married/Separated/Divorced/Widowed | 14.1 | 14.9 | 0.546 | 17.1 | 15.7 | 0.384 | 8.4 | 11.3 | 0.237 |
Married/Remarried/Cohabitation/Other | 85.9 | 85.1 | 82.9 | 84.3 | 91.6 | 88.8 | ||||
Mother’s education
| High school not completed | 10.1 | 15.5 | <0.0001 | 13.9 | 18.0 | 0.019 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 0.180 |
High school completed | 35.5 | 38.9 | 40.0 | 39.9 | 25.8 | 33.3 | ||||
Continued after high school | 54.3 | 45.7 | 46.1 | 42.0 | 72.1 | 64.4 | ||||
Mother inactive
| Yes | 11.0 | 14.8 | 0.004 | 15.2 | 17.0 | 0.301 | 3.9 | 6.1 | 0.205 |
Area
| Rural | 40.6 | 42.8 | 0.223 | 36.6 | 39.1 | 0.028 | 51.7 | 59.3 | 0.072 |
Country
| Bulgaria | 18.0 | 22.9 | <0.0001 | 27.8 | 28.0 | <0.0001 | - | - | |
Romania | 15.5 | 27.5 | 23.9 | 33.6 | - | - | ||||
Lithuania | 19.6 | 17.3 | 30.2 | 21.1 | - | - | ||||
Turkey | 7.1 | 11.1 | 10.9 | 13.6 | - | - | ||||
East Germany | 4.7 | 3.3 | 7.2 | 3.6 | - | - | ||||
Italy | 17.4 | 7.8 | - | - | 49.7 | 42.5 | 0.108 | |||
Netherlands | 12.8 | 7.0 | - | - | 36.4 | 38.3 | ||||
West Germany | 4.9 | 4.1 | - | - | 14.0 | 19.2 | ||||
PBAQ caring
| Average | 69.3 | 67.1 | 0.268 | 64.9 | 65.8 | 0.913 | 72.2 | 73 | 0.417 |
Below average | 15.9 | 15.9 | 16.2 | 15.6 | 15.3 | 17 | ||||
Above average | 14.8 | 17.0 | 18.9 | 18.6 | 7.5 | 10 | ||||
PBAQ autonomy
| Average | 64.6 | 65.3 | <0.001 | 66.5 | 65.6 | 0.621 | 61.2 | 65.6 | 0.100 |
Below average | 18.9 | 13.9 | 12.3 | 11.6 | 30.6 | 23.9 | ||||
Above average | 16.5 | 20.8 | 21.1 | 22.8 | 8.2 | 11.9 |
Total sample | Eastern Europe | Western Europe | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
aOR (95% CI)
|
aOR (95% CI)
|
aOR (95% CI)
| ||
Age
|
0.93 (0.87 - 0.97)*
|
0.92 (0.85 - 0.98)*
| 0.97 (0.86 - 1.1) | |
Gender
| Male |
1.24 (1.07 - 1.43)**
|
1.38 (1.18 - 1.63)***
| 0.76 (0.55 - 1.07) |
Female | 1 [reference] | 1 [reference] | 1 [reference] | |
N° children at home
| 1 |
1.40 (1.07 - 1.84)*
|
1.39 (1.03 - 1.86)*
| 1.55 (0.64 - 3.75) |
2 or 3 | 1.09 (0.85 - 1.39) | 1.05 (0.81 - 1.36) | 1.40 (0.63 - 3.08) | |
≥4 | 1 [reference] | 1 [reference] | 1 [reference] | |
Level education mother
| High school not completed | 1.27 (0.95 - 1.71) | 1.27 (0.93 - 1.75) | 0.93 (0.29 - 2.93) |
High school completed | 1.08 (0.89 - 1.29) | 1.03 (0.83 - 1.29) | 1.27 (0.84 - 1.92) | |
Continued after high school | 1 [reference] | 1 [reference] | 1 [reference] | |
Age mother
| 1.001 (0.99 - 1.02) | 0.99 (0.98 - 1.02) | 1.01 (0.97 - 1.05) | |
Country
| Romania |
3.80 (2.77 - 5.21)****
|
2.67 (1.69 - 4.22)****
| - |
Turkey |
2.85 (1.94 - 4.19)****
|
1.98 (1.18 - 3.33)*
| - | |
Bulgaria |
2.72 (1.96 - 3.76)****
|
1.92 (1.24 - 2.98)**
| - | |
Lithuania |
2.05 (1.46 - 2.89)****
| 1.44 (0.92 - 2.27) | ||
East Germany | 1.42 (0.86 - 2.36) | 1 [reference] | - | |
West Germany |
1.64 (1.03 - 2.61)*
| 1.62 (0.97 - 2.70) | ||
Netherlands | 1.33 (0.92 - 1.92) | 1.25 (0.83 - 1.90) | ||
Italy | 1 [reference] | 1 [reference] | ||
Sport/physical activity (hours per week)
| 0.99 (0.98 - 1) | 0.99 (0.98 - 1.002) | 0.98 (0.95 - 1.02) | |
TV/video tapes/DVD (hours per week)
|
1.01 (1.002 - 1.03)*
|
1.01 (1.001 - 1.03)*
| 1.02 (0.98 - 1.06) | |
PBAQ autonomy
| Below average | 0.81 (0.65 - 1) | 0.82 (0.63 - 1.06) | 0.80 (0.53 - 1.21) |
Above average | 1.13 (0.92 - 1.38) | 1.09 (0.89 - 1.35) | 1.40 (0.79 - 2.47) | |
Average | 1 [reference] | 1 [reference] | 1 [reference] |
Country-level correlates of overweight
Indicator | Year* | Unit | Romania | Turkey | Bulgaria | Lithuania | Germany† | Netherlands | Italy | Eastern Europe | Western Europe | Total sample |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(n = 1,003; 19.3%) | (n = 486; 9.3%) | (n = 984; 18.9%) | (n = 1,018; 19.6%) | (n = 435; 8.4%) | (n = 593; 11.4%) | (n = 687; 13.2%) | mean (SD) | mean (SD) | mean (SD) | |||
Gross domestic product (GDP)
| 2010 | US$ per capita | 7670.3 | 10049.8 | 6334.68 | 11046 | 40163.8 | 46622.9 | 33786.6 | 10472.1 (7670.2) | 39795.6 (5924.6) | 18898.5 (15103.8) |
Real domestic product (RDP)
| 2010 | PPP$ per capita | 14778.3 | 15829.8 | 13892.2 | 18120 | 37651.6 | 41673.2 | 32109.6 | 16948.2 (5440.6) | 36700.7 (4429.9) | 22624.3 (10326.9) |
Average number of calories
| 2009 | kcal/person/day | 3487 | 3666 | 2791 | 3486 | 3549 | 3261 | 3627 | 3329.2 (328.7) | 3470.7 (171.9) | 3369.9 (299.3) |
Available fat
| 2009 | % of total energy | 27.62 | 25.97 | 32.7 | 27.93 | 37.05 | 37.53 | 39.21 | 29.4 (3.1) | 38.2 (0.9) | 31.9 (4.8) |
Available fruits/vegetables
| 2009 | kg/person/year | 226.6 | 361.2 | 105 | 171.9 | 176.2 | 212.6 | 312.4 | 194 (78.8) | 253.2 (55.9) | 211 (77.7) |
Public sector health expenditure (total health expenditure)
| 2010 | % of total health expenditure, WHO estimates | 80.36 | 74.8 | 55.7 | 72.9 | 76.78 | 84.82 | 77.62 | 70.8 (9.5) | 80.4 (3.6) | 73.6 (9.3) |
Public sector expenditure on health (total government expenditure)
| 2010 | % of total government expenditure, WHO estimates | 11.92 | 12.8 | 11.28 | 12.56 | 18.52 | 20.08 | 14.72 | 12.4 (1.6) | 17.4 (2.5) | 13.9 (3) |
Motor vehicles
| 2007 | N° motor vehicles/1000 people | 180 | 131 | 295 | 479 | 623 | 503 | 677 | 314.7 (156.9) | 583.2 (67.5) | 391.8 (183.4) |
Passenger cars
| 2007 | N° passenger cars/1000 people | 156 | 88 | 257 | 470 | 566 | 441 | 601 | 286.3 (158.4) | 521.5 (66.3) | 353.9 (174.5) |
N° policies to prevent obesity in children
| 2010 | N° policies to prevent obesity in children from 2000 to 2010 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 4.9 (1.6) | 6.6 (3.7) | 5.4 (2.5) |
Total sample | Eastern Europe | Western Europe | |
---|---|---|---|
Indicator | aOR (95% CI) | aOR (95% CI) | aOR (95% CI) |
GDP
|
0.69 (0.63 - 0.76)****
|
0.82 (0.75 - 0.91)****
| 1.12 (0.92 - 1.36) |
RDP
|
0.69 (0.63 - 0.76)****
|
0.81 (0.74 - 0.90)****
| 1.13 (0.93 - 1.38) |
Available calories
| 0.95 (0.88 - 1.02) | 0.99 (0.92 - 1.09) | 0.93 (0.77 - 1.12) |
Available fat
|
0.71 (0.65 - 0.77)****
|
0.89 (0.82 - 0.97)*
| 0.84 (0.68 - 1.01) |
Available fruits/vegetables
| 0.95 (0.87 - 1.03) | 1.07 (0.98 - 1.18) | 0.83 (0.68 - 1.003) |
Motor vehicles per 1000 people
|
0.68 (0.62 - 0.74)****
|
0.76 (0.69 - 0.84)****
| 0.99 (0.83 - 1.20) |
Passenger cars per 1000 people
|
0.69 (0.63 - 0.75)****
|
0.77 (0.70 - 0.84)****
| 0.99 (0.82 - 1.18) |
Public sector health expenditure as % of total health expenditure
| 0.96 (0.89 - 1.04) | 1.07 (0.99 - 1.17) | 1.03 (0.86 - 1.25) |
Public sector expenditure on health as % of total government expenditure
|
0.74 (0.68 - 0.81)****
|
0.84 (0.76 - 0.92)***
| 1.15 (0.95 - 1.40) |
N° of policies from 2000-2010
| 0.97 (0.90 - 1.05) | 1.02 (0.94 - 1.12) | 1.10 (0.91 - 1.34) |