According to a new study, Oregon has the lowest rate of childhood obesity in the country, but local pediatricians are questioning the accuracy of the data that were gleaned from a nationwide telephone survey.
Black and Hispanic youth in the study were twice as likely as white youth to be overweight or obese. Oregon is 90 percent white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Web site.
9.6 percent of children in Oregon ages 10 to 17 in Oregon are obese, according to the survey.
The study, “Changes in State-Specific Childhood Obesity and Overweight Prevalence in the United States from 2003 to 2007,” is the first to examine changes in obesity and overweight prevalence rates on a state-by-state basis.
Oregon was the only state in the survey to see a decrease in the number of obese children.
Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) in the 95th percentile or higher. BMI is used to screen for obesity, overweight, healthy weight or underweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site.
Nationwide, the state average for obesity is 16 percent of children ages 10 to 17, a 10-percent increase since 2003.
Poverty, race and family history are all linked to obesity in complex ways, experts said. Socioeconomic factors might have had some correlation to the survey results. The study observed links between changes in childhood obesity prevalence and sociodemographic, behavioral and neighborhood characteristics, such as low household income, few neighborhood parks and sidewalks, low levels of physical activity, and increased television viewing and computer use.
Although Oregon’s childhood obesity rate is the lowest in the country, it is still almost twice the recommended childhood obesity rate set by the federal Healthy People 2010 initiative, which stands at 5 percent.
Local pediatricians were not sure how accurate the telephone survey could be, because poorer families might not have access to a landline telephone.
“I’m uncertain how valid these numbers are, being as they are based on a phone survey. Families of lower socioeconomic status, families with the highest overweight and obesity rates, are more likely not to have a land line, and therefore not be captured in telephone surveys, thereby skewing the data,” local pediatrician Todd Huffman said in an e-mail. “If true, I worry that the results may simply be an unfortunate reflection of the unacceptably high rates of food insecurity among Oregon children.”
Pediatrician Jimmy Unger agreed and mentioned a study conducted by the Lane Coalition for Healthy Active Youth in 2005. It found that out of 10,000 children in Lane County grades kindergarten to eighth, 37 percent were overweight. The children were weighed and measured for the study, conducted in 2005.
“I trust our data more than theirs,” Unger said.
Unger, who works with children from birth until they’re 21, said social and cultural reasons are behind high obesity rates.
“It has become almost impossible to make healthy choices,” he said. “The most effective strategy is one of prevention. Parents need to dig their heels in and fight the pressure to coerce their family to make unhealthy choices.”
The Health Resources and Services Administration survey findings were published in the May issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The data was garnered through telephone surveys of the parents of children nationwide, by the National Survey of Children’s Health.
Figures for about 47,000 children ages 10 to 17 were analyzed for 2003 and about 44,000 children ages 10 to 17 for 2007.
Recently, first lady Michelle Obama joined members of the Childhood Obesity Task Force to unveil the Task Force action plan “Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity Within a Generation.” Events around the country will highlight the importance of addressing childhood obesity, according to a White House press release.
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