| Obesity and Other Predictors of Absenteeism in Philadelphia School Children. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 21592129 Owner: NLM Status: Publisher |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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BACKGROUND: Limited data indicate that obese children are absent from school more than their normal-weight peers. We analyzed administrative data from a large urban school district to investigate the association of obesity and student sociodemographic characteristics with absenteeism. METHODS: We analyzed 291,040 records, representing 165,056 unique students (grades 1-12). Obesity status was classified according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention age- and sex-specific percentiles for body mass index (BMI) and analyses were based on negative binomial regression. RESULTS: Overall rates of overweight and obesity were 17% and 20%, respectively, and the estimated absence rate was 17 absences per 180 student-days. Obesity was weakly associated with increased school absences. The association was present mainly among the most obese students (BMI >99th percentile), who had an 11% greater absence rate compared to normal-weight students. Compared to white students, Hispanics and African Americans had higher absence rates (14% and 10%, respectively), and Asians had lower absence rates (43%). Students eligible for free or reduced-cost meals had 24% higher absence rates than those who were not eligible. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight and obesity do not seem strongly associated with school absence, except among extremely obese children. Race and poverty appear to affect absences to a greater extent than overweight and obesity. Additional research is needed to investigate the contribution of contextual factors in schools and neighborhoods. This study suggests that data routinely collected in schools could be used to track childhood obesity and to efficiently evaluate public health interventions designed to decrease childhood obesity. |
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Authors:
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Elizabeth B Rappaport; Constantine Daskalakis; Jocelyn Andrel |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: JOURNAL ARTICLE |
Journal Detail:
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Title: The Journal of school health Volume: 81 ISSN: 1746-1561 ISO Abbreviation: - Publication Date: 2011 Jun |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2011-5-19 Completed Date: - Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 0376370 Medline TA: J Sch Health Country: - |
Other Details:
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Languages: ENG Pagination: 341-344 Citation Subset: - |
Copyright Information:
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© 2011, American School Health Association. |
Affiliation:
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Associate Professor, (elizabeth.rappaport@jefferson.edu), Department of Family and Community Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, 1015 Walnut St, Suite 401, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Assistant Professor, (c_daskalakis@mail.jci.tju.edu), Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Division of Biostatistics, Thomas Jefferson University, 1015 Chestnut St., Suite M100, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Biostatistician, (Jocelyn.Andrel@mail.jci.tju.edu), Department Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Division of Biostatistics, Thomas Jefferson University, 1015 Chestnut St, Suite M100, Philadelphia, PA 19107. |
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From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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