Global epidemics of childhood obesity is hitting a ‘less industrialized’ corner in Asia: A case study in Macao

Abstract

Childhood obesity prevalence amongst children is rising virtually in all countries with rapid acceleration in major cities in China. A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 2,015 primary and secondary students in Macao to investigate the nutritional status and analyzed for the relationship of overweight and other cardio-metabolic risk factors. Subjects were randomly selected in proportion to the gender and age of the population. A total of 26.4% of boys and 13.9% of girls were overweight or obese with the highest prevalence around 40% among boys aged 9–12 and girls aged 10 and 11. Some 18.1% of boys and 20.4% of girls were found to have borderline LDL levels; a further 9.3% and 10.4% were found to have high-risk, respectively. For those students with overweight and obesity, a significant higher proportion of them had cardio-metabolic risk factors. Based on this evidence, there is a concern that obesity and its associated co-morbidity could reach epidemic proportions in the ‘less industrialized’ cities of China.