Prevalence of childhood obesity in Australia
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.. 3
RESEARCH QUESTIONS. 4
Significance and aim of the study. 4
BACKGROUND.. 5
LITERATURE REVIEW… 6
Nutritional intervention. 6
Age. 6
Genetics. 6
Cultural factors. 7
Gender. 7
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK. 8
METHODOLOGY-. 9
RESEARCH METHODS. 9
DATA COLLECTION.. 9
DATA ANALYSIS. 10
ETHICAL ISSUES. 10
TIME FRAME. 10
REPORT AND DISSEMINATION AND CONCLUSION.. 11
REFERENCES. 13
INTRODUCTION
Globally, childhood obesity has been documented as a serious medical issue with significant impacts on children’s health. WHO statistics show that worldwide obesity has tripled in the last five decades (Khan 2016, p. 379). These statistics moreover show that worldwide, 340million children between the age of 5-19 years and 41 million children under the age of 5 years, were found to be obese in 2017 (Rivera et al. 2014, p. 325). Obesity is a medical condition where the body accumulates excess body fat to an extent that presents a health risk (Lauby-Secretan et al. 2016, p. 797). It is measured by the body mass index (BMI) value of over 30kg/m2 for adults. In children, obesity is measured as a weight for height in which the standard median set by WHO is exceeded by more than 3 standard deviations (Pérez et al. 2015, p. 24). Body mass index is calculated by dividing the weight of a person in kilograms by the square of their height in meters.
Obesity predisposes its victims to other very serious health conditions. Among the major conditions predisposed are the type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, asthma, fatty liver disease, cancer, heart diseases and bone joint diseases (Ohashi et al. 2014, p. 352). Additionally, obesity has associated physical disability and psychological problems that can have highly negative impacts the quality of life. This poses detrimental effects on the self -esteem leading to negative consequences and shorter life expectancy. Excessive weight gain, especially during infancy and early childhood, is also associated with early morbidity. It is, therefore, the role of the parents to monitor their child’s weight through proper diet and healthy exercises.
(I.C. OAS 0159)