A five-year trend of increasing obesity among elementary schoolchildren inmultiethnic, low-income, inner-city neighborhoods in Montreal, Canada

OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence of overweight and obesity over 5 y am ong inner-city elementary schoolchildren aged 10-12 y in multiethnic, low-i ncome neighborhoods in Montreal, Canada, DESIGN: Height and weight of all students in grades 4-6 in 16 control schoo ls participating in an evaluation of the impact of a school-based heart hea lth promotion program, were measured each May/June from 1993 to 1997 in cro ss-sectional classroom-based school surveys. RESULTS: The prevalence of overweight (greater than or equal to 85th age- a nd gender-specific percentile for body mass index (BMI) from NHANES I and I I) was 35.9% in 1993; it increased by approximately 1.3% per year. The prev alence of obesity (greater than or equal to 95th age- and gender-specific p ercentile for BMI from NHANES I and II) was 15.9% in 1993; it increased by approximately 1.0% per year. In multivariate models predicting overweight a nd obesity, the odds ratios for year adjusted for age, sex, and family ethn ic origin were 1.08 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04-1.12). and 1.09 (95 %Cl, 1.04-1.15), respectively. CONCLUSION: There were significant secular trends of increasing overweight and obesity among young inner-city schoolchildren from the early to late 19 90s. Preventive intervention is clearly indicated because childhood obesity tracks to adulthood and because obesity is associated with substantial mor bidity, mortality and health care costs.