Nutritional status of preschool children and correlative behavior and cognition level in paterfamilias

Objective To discuss the impact of relevant factors and paterfamilias' behavior and cognition level on preschool children's nutritional status.Methods Two kindergartens were randomly selected from Shenyang city.Preschool children at age of 2-6 years in the kindergartens were involved in a physical examination and their nutritional status was evaluated.The questionnaire was designed to collect information on obesity-related behaviors of the children and their parents,and the parents' cognitive level about childhood obesity.The relationship between obesity-related factors and the nutritional status of preschool children was analyzed.Results Among the children with fast eating behavior,26.8%(15/56) had better nutrition status,higher than that of the children with general and slow eating behavior(11.0% and 6.9%,respectively,χ2=38.02,P0.01).The parents of the children with better and good nutrition status had more unhealthy eating habits(34.7% and 17.6%,respectively) than the parents of the children with middle and lower-middle nutrition status(14.9% and 13.3%,respectively,χ2=9.91,P0.05).Among fathers of the children with better nutritional status,77.6% were overweight or obese,more than those of the children with middle and lower-middle nutritional status(46.1% and 46.7% respectively,χ2=18.24,P0.01).Of the children with upper nutrition status,32.7% were cared by their grandparents with higher rates than the children with middle and lower-middle nutrition status(23.4% and 20.0%,respectively,χ2=8.01,P0.05).Conclusion Among a variety of obesity relevant factors,children's eating speed,parents' unhealthy eating habits,father's body mass index and children's nurturers in previous 3 years have greater impact on nutritional status of preschool children.