Measuring and modelling body mass index among a cohort of urban children living with disadvantage.

Aim: To report on baseline outcomes of body mass index, eating habits and physical activity of a cohort of urban disadvantaged children from a longitudinal evaluation of a school based, health promoting initiative.

Background: The healthy schools programme was developed for implementation in schools located in disadvantaged areas of Dublin, Ireland.

Design: A prospective, cohort study design was implemented.

Method: A 3-year longitudinal evaluation was conducted in five intervention and two comparison schools between 2009-2011. Data were collected on each participating child to determine their eating habits, levels of physical activity and body mass index at year 1 (baseline), year 2 and year 3. Independent t-tests were used to compare mean values, chi-square and Fishers exact tests were used to compare proportions at baseline.

Results: Participation rates were over 50%. Older children reported eating on average more fruit and vegetables than younger children; breakfast was often eaten on the way to, or in school and in one age group 16.7% of intervention children reported they did not eat breakfast that day. Levels of physical activity varied with over 70% of younger children stating they never played a sport. In intervention schools over one quarter of all children were either overweight or obese. A comparison was conducted between the proportion of 9-year olds overweight and obese in our disadvantaged cohort and a national random sample of 8500 9-year olds and no important differences were observed.

Conclusion: Baseline results indicate that body mass index rates particularly among pre adolescent, urban disadvantaged girls are of concern.