Study finds racial disparities in preschool obesity rates

A new study has determined that 1 in 5 preschoolers in the United States is obese and the obesity rate for minority groups is even higher (Source: “Obesity affecting younger children,” Columbus Dispatch, April 7, 2009).

According to the study of body mass indexes of 8,550 U.S. 4-year-olds, 18 percent of 4-year-olds are obese. However, there were significant racial disparities, with American Indian/native Alaskan children having roughly twice the rate of obesity (31 percent) as white (15.9 percent) and Asian children (12.8 percent). The obesity rate  for Hispanic children was 22 percent and the rate for Black children was 20.8 percent.

The study, “Prevalence of Obesity Among US Preschool Children in Different Racial and Ethnic Groups,” was published in this week’s edition of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Among the researchers in the study was Sarah Anderson, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University's College of Public Health.

The finding come a week after the Ohio Department of Health's Office of Healthy Ohio released its Ohio Obesity Prevention Plan (Source: “Healthy Ohio submits obesity prevention plan to Governor,” Ohio Health Policy Review, April 1, 2009).