Association between Obesity and Parental Weight Status in Children and Adolescents

Objective: This study aims to assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI) of children and that of their parents in a nationallyrepresentative sample of Iranian population.Methods: This cross-sectional nationwide study was conducted in 2011-2012 among 6-18-year-old students and their parents living in 30 provinces of Iran.Socio-demographic information was collected.The BMI values of the children/adolescents were categorized according to the World Health Organization reference curves.Association between parental and student weight status was examined using ordinal regression models after adjustment for potential confounders.Results: Overall, 23043 children and adolescents and one of their parents participated in this study (50.7% boys, 73.4% urban status).Mean age of the subjects was 12.55±3.31years.Mean BMI values of parents and children/adolescents were 27.0±4.57and 18.8±4.4kg/m2, respectively.After adjusting for confounders, overweight and/or obesity in students of both genders was found to be significantly associated with parental overweight and/or obesity.In those students who had obese parents, the odds ratio (OR) of being obese was 2.79 for boys [OR=2.79;95% confidence interval (CI)=2.44-3.20]and 3.46 for girls (OR=3.46;95% CI=3.03-3.94)compared to their peers with normal-weight parents.Boys with overweight parents were 1.7 times more overweight than their counterparts with normalweight parents (OR=1.70;95% CI=1.15-1.92).Similarly, girls who had overweight parents were more overweight compared to those with normal-weight parents (OR=2.00;95% CI=1.77-2.25).Conclusion: Our findings highlight the importance of the shared family environment as a multi-factorial contributor to the childhood obesity epidemic and the necessity of implementing family-centered preventive programs.Keywords: Overweight, obesity, body mass index, children and adolescents, parents What this study adds?Children from families with obese parents were at a significantly higher risk of obesity compared to children with normal-weight parents.Overweight and/or obesity in children of both genders was significantly associated with parental overweight and/or obesity.Parental weight is one of the predictors of obesity in children and adolescents.There is an association between parental body mass index and child birth weight.