DO PARENTAL EDUCATION AND OCCUPATION AFFECTS CHILDRENS BODY MASS INDEX (BMI)?

Objective: To investigate the association between the parental education and occupation and their effects on childhood obesity. Methods: This cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2017. The data were collected from children and adolescents aged 2-18 years old. The participants were directed to an ambulatory clinic in King Abdul-Aziz Hospital for executing anthropometric measurements. Results: Of the total 328 participants 170 were male children and 158 were female children. The prevalence rates of overweight, obese and severely obese children were 139, 160 and 29 respectively. It is identified in this study that those children were more to be obese if they had employed fathers (93.3%) with p-value= (0.031) and non-working mothers (55.7%) with p-value= (0.047). It is identified that there was no significant relation between BMI categories and father?s education level (P-value= 0.226, ρ = 0.059) and mother?s education (P-value= 0.291, ρ = 0.052). Conclusion: Overweight and obesity among children living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia is not associated with the educational levels of both parents, however, it is also identified that overweight and obesity were associated with employed father and non-employed mothers.