天美传媒

Abstract

Objective: Childhood obesity is a global, multifactorial public health problem. Several studies examined the association between fast food consumption and childhood obesity, and the results are variable across nations. This study aims to examine the association between fast-food consumption and childhood obesity in a nationally representative sample of school-age children in Oman.

Methods: Using secondary data from the 2015 Oman Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS), an analytical cross-sectional study was conducted. The study participants were schoolchildren aged 13-17 years. Descriptive and comparative data were presented to examine the association between fast-food consumption and childhood overweight/obesity (defined as body mass index (BMI) ≥ 1 standard deviation (SD) from the median by age and sex). After adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related factors, multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association between fast-food consumption (≥ 3 times a week) and childhood overweight/ obesity. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results: Total of 3468 students aged 13-17 were recruited in the parent study (response rate = 92.0%). Nearly one-third of the study population were affected by overweight (16.6%) or obesity (13.2%). One-quarter (23.9%) of students consumed fast-food at least three times a week, and nearly half (43.1%) drank carbonated soft drinks at least twice a week. The univariate analysis showed a significant association between fast-food consumption and childhood overweight/obesity, p=0.016. After controlling for possible confounders, students who consumed fast-food more frequently (≥ 3 times a week) were 25.0% more likely to develop overweight/obesity (AOR = 1.25, p = 0.035).

Conclusion: This study showed a significantly positive association between fast-food consumption and childhood overweight/obesity after controlling for possible confounders. A comprehensive multi-sectoral effort is required to tackle the wider food environment that influences children’s food choices and combat childhood obesity. Further longitudinal studies are required to better understand the causal association between fast-food consumption and childhood obesity.