• Natalie Pearson, Jo Salmon, Karen Campbell, David Crawford, and Anna Timperio.
• School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences, Loughborough University, UK. n.l.pearson@lboro.ac.uk
• Prev Med. 2011 Oct 1; 53 (4-5): 268-70.

ObjectiveTo examine the tracking of children's body mass index, television viewing, and dietary intake over five-years.MethodsIn 2002/3 (T1) parents of children aged 5-6 years (n=175) and 10-12 years (n=121), from Victoria, Australia, completed measures assessing their child's frequency of fruit, vegetable, and energy-dense sweet and savory snack consumption, and their child's television (TV) viewing. Children's height and weight were measured by researchers and sex-age adjusted body mass index (BMI) calculated. All measures were repeated in 2006 (T2) and 2008 (T3). Generalized estimating equations (GEE) (standardized stability coefficients, β) were used to assess tracking and were interpreted as: β <0.3=low, 0.3-0.6=moderate, and >0.6=high.ResultsHigh standardized stability coefficients were found for BMI (β=0.74-0.92), TV viewing (β=0.65-0.73), and frequency of fruit consumption (β=0.73-0.89) among younger and older children. Moderate-to-high standardized stability coefficients were found for frequency of vegetable (β=0.52-0.86), energy-dense sweet (β=0.41-0.65), and savory snack consumption (0.40-0.67) among younger and older children.ConclusionsBMI, TV viewing and dietary intake patterns are moderate-highly stable throughout childhood and into adolescence. Further research that identifies and targets high risk groups to prevent increased BMI, reduce TV viewing and promote healthy dietary behaviors may be justified.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

18 keywords...

hide…