Associations between maternal life style and child’s body mass index, a cross-sectional study in Abadan, Iran

To assess the association between maternal life style and child s body mass index, in Abadan, Iran. Study Design A cross-sectional study was conducted to meet study objective. Methods: 500 children aged 3-5 years, and their mothers were selected from nine health clinics in Abadan, Iran. Data were collected using interviews with mothers, filling out questionnaires and measuring child s height and weight and calculating their body mass index (BMI). Also BMI of mothers measured. Data was analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis, chi-square and logistic regression test. Results: The results showed the mother s lifestyle scores was not significantly different in different groups of child s BMI. But the child’s BMI was significantly associated with some aspects of mother’s lifestyle such as physical health, weight control and nutrition, disease prevention and mental health of mother and some factors like child’s appetite, and socioeconomic status (P<0.05). The analysis showed that the prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity was 15.2%, 6.8 % and 5.8 % in children in Abadan.Conclusions: Although the total scores of mother’ lifestyle did not show a significant relationship with the child s BMI but each of dimension of lifestyle showed a significant relationship with child’s BMI. Results of this study confirm the importance of the mother s life style in the child s growth and health

Keywords:

Life style , BMI , Underweight , Overweight , Obesity