| This study aims to describe the prevalence of overweight and obesity and to evaluate the effect of certain risk factors (socioeconomic status, food intake, physical activity, language spoken (French or English), and food security status) on children and teenagers from the Atlantics provinces. The analysis has been done with the data collected by the Canadian Community Health Survey Cycle 2.2, Nutrition Focus (CCHS 2,2) led by Statistics Canada in 2004. The data collection was conducted with questionnaire and direct measurements. The survey was composed of two independent but complementary sections. The first part was a general health questionnaire composed of 18 categories and gathered information on the weight and height, socioeconomic characteristics, chronic diseases and on health habits. The second part includes all the information about food and beverages intake during the preceding day.;Among the risk factors taken into consideration, parents' income was statistically related with the child body mass index. An inverse relationship between the two variables indicates that a child coming from a lower revenue environment has a greater risk of suffering from obesity or being overweight. The highest rate of obesity is found among the inactive youth aged between 12 and 17, but a statistically significant relationship wasn't found. Time spent watching television or playing videos games are the two sedentary activities that seems to play a more important role on body mass index among children and adolescents. Among the 12 to 17-years-old group, more than a third of the teenagers are spending between 3 and 10 hours per week in front of a computer. The two variables that total all sedentary activities (the one including reading and the one excluding it) also have a positive statistically significant correlation. Based on this study, none of the risk factors usually associated with obesity in youth have been demonstrated. Also, even if close to three quarters of the children and adolescents didn't consume their daily recommendation of fruits and vegetables, no relation was found.;In the Atlantics provinces, 35.8% of the children aged between 4 and 17 suffered either from obesity or being overweight. The highest rate, 39.9%, is among the children aged between 9 and 13 followed by the 14 to 17 year old group. Compared to the national average of 26%, the rates found in the Atlantics provinces are clearly higher. |
