Study shows higher obesity among Gozitan children

Children attending independent fee-paying schools were the least likely to be overweight and obese.

Results of the study were published in the Malta Medical Journal in an article authored by pediatricians Victor Grech and Victoria Farrugia Sant Angelo.

The study was based on data collected in 2008 and 2010.

In 2008, data was collected from a total of 3,435 children aged seven.

The same procedure was carried out in 2010 on the same cohort of children. A total of 3,090 children participated in the second round of the study.

Based on World Health Organization criteria, over a quarter of Maltese seven-year-olds were found to be overweight or obese in 2008. This proportion rose to just over 40% when the same cohort was measured in 2010 at the age of nine.

One of the reasons given by the study to explain why Gozitan children are more obese is the increase in fast-food outlets in the island. Another possible reason is that children in Gozo are exposed to greater academic pressure in primary schools to guarantee entrance to the Junior Lyceum or to the only Church Secondary School in Gozo. This leads to a more sedentary lifestyle for these children.

The lowest levels of overweight and obese children in 2010 was registered in the North Harbour district, which includes major urban centers like B’Kara, Sliema, St Julian’s and Qormi.

The study also shows that independent schools enjoy the least prevalence of overweight and obesity among both boys and girls.

This was not so in 2008, when girls attending independent Schools had a high prevalence for being overweight, but not obese. However, this trend was significantly reversed in the 2010 study where the same girls became the least overweight and obese when compared to other schools.

A survey of school sports facilities and time spent by children in physical activity per week carried out as part of the European Child Growth Surveillance Initiative in 2008 showed that independent schools had longer school days, and more time devoted to physical activity than State and Church schools.