Obesity Severity, Dietary Behaviors, and Lifestyle Risks Vary by Race/Ethnicity and Age in a Northern California Cohort of Children with Obesity

Table 3

Health-related behavior and lifestyle risks of pediatric patients with obesity, by age group and obesity severity.

Health behavior/lifestyle risk	3–5 years		6–11 years		12–17 years
	Moderate obesity ( = 762) %	Severe obesity ( = 353) %	Moderate obesity ( = 2224) %	Severe obesity ( = 1260) %	Moderate obesity ( = 1916) %	Severe obesity ( = 1341) %
Eating breakfast <6 times a week	25.5	36.5^a	31.2	39.3^a	55.0	64.2^a
Eating meals with family <5 times a week	35.4	33.8	37.6	42.5^a	53.1	55.9
Eating <5 servings of fruits/vegetables a day	45.2	45.0	54.7	54.9	59.6	64.5^a
Eating <3 servings of vegetables a day	60.8	59.0	65.9	65.1	69.0	73.7^a
Eating <3 servings of fruit a day	43.1	45.9	54.4	56.5	62.5	65.4
Eating ≥3 sugary or salty snacks a day	22.9	26.8	26.7	30.5	31.1	33.1
Drinking ≥2 sugary or juice drinks a day	54.6	65.2^a	57.4	63.0	58.4	61.9
60 min exercise outside PE <5 times a week	40.7	53.0^a	63.0	68.5^a	66.5	69.1^a
60 min exercise <3 times a week	15.1	19.8	25.7	33.9^a	34.7	40.0^a
TV, computer, or video games ≥3 hours/day	29.5	35.4	40.5	48.6^a	61.7	66.1^a
Inadequate number of hours of sleep/night^1	5.4	9.4^a	1.0	1.5	7.5	10.9^a

PE = school-based physical education or recess; TV = television. Column s are approximate due to missing data.
¹Sleep <8 hours per day (including naps) for ages 3–5 and <7 hours per night for ages 6–17.
Significantly () different from moderate obesity after adjusting for child’s sex and race/ethnicity.
Moderate obesity = BMI 100–119% of the 95th percentile; Severe obesity = BMI ≥ 120% of the 95th percentile.