Pediatrics & Therapeutics
Open Access

School environment factors were associated with BMI among adolescents in Xi�an city, China

International Conference on Pediatrics & Gynecology

6-8 December 2011 Philadelphia Airport Marriott, USA

Ming Li

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Pediatr Therapeut

Abstract :

The school environment has a considerable infl uence on the behavior in Chinese students since they spend most of the day there. Th e purpose of this research was to identify school environment factors associated with BMI. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1804 school-aged adolescents from 30 schools in six districts in Xi�an City in 2004. Anthropometric measurements were taken from students by trained fi eld staff . School environment characteristics such as school facilities, health and physical education curricula, school policies for bicycle-riding and school shops and fast food outlets in school ar eas were collected by asking school doctors to fi ll in school environment questionnaires. Mix eff ect models were built with school BMI as outcome and school environment factors were identifi ed aft er adjusted for socio-demographic factors. Th e availability of soft drinks in school shops (coef. 1.11, 95% CI 0.56-1.67, P<0.01) was signifi cantly correlated with increased mean BMI aft er adjusted for socio-demographic factors. Number of fast food outlet in the school vicinity was positively correlated with school mean BMI but not signifi cant (one outlet compared with none: coef. 0.17, 95% CI -0.26-0.60; two or more outlets compared with none: coef. 0.56, 95% CI -0.38-1.46, P=0.56). Urgent actions are n eeded to address the obesogenic elements of school environments in facing with the increasing overweight and obesity adolescent in urban China.

Biography :

Ming Li has completed her Ph.D in 2006 from The University of Newcastle, Australia and is doing postdoctoral studies from Unive rsity of South Australia. She has been working in the area of overweight and obesity among Chinese adolescents since 2003 and is doing researc h on other non- communicable diseases such as type II diabetes, coronary heart disease, and metabolic syndrome. Her work has been published in reputed journals and was presented in many international conferences.