Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Obesity, diet and lifestyle in 9-year-old children with parentally reported chronic diseases: findings from the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal child cohort study

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -) Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

The incidence and prevalence of childhood chronic disease is increasing worldwide. Obesity, poor diet and lifestyle may be more prevalent in children with a chronic disease than in their healthier contemporaries. The Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study is a nationally representative cohort study of children living in the Republic of Ireland. The study has collected information from 8568 9-year-old Irish children on their experiences within their families, childcare settings, schools and communities, and how these impact on all aspects of children's development.

Aims

This study aims to establish the prevalence of parentally reported chronic disease in children in Ireland and to describe their diet and lifestyle.

Methods

This study analyzed data from the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal child cohort study and compared the diet, lifestyle and prevalence of obesity in children with and without a parentally reported chronic disease.

Results

Overall, 954 parents in the sample (11.1%) reported that their child had a chronic illness and 43.4% of these children are hampered by it in their daily activities. Respiratory disorders were the commonest type of chronic disease (46%) reported. Children with a chronic illness were more likely to be overweight or obese (32.9% compared to 25.0% of those without a chronic illness, p < 0.001). Children with chronic illness were also found to have a poorer diet, take less exercise and experienced significantly more social isolation than their peers (all p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Public health measures to address diet and lifestyle choices need to be cognisant of the needs of children with chronic diseases and tailor activities offered to be inclusive of all children. Medical professionals having contact with children with chronic conditions need to remember to reinforce the importance of diet and lifestyle whenever possible and to explore with families solutions to barriers to making healthy diet and lifestyle choices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. (2001) Innovative care for chronic conditions. World Heal. Organ. Geneva

  2. Epping-Jordan J, Bengoa R, Kawar R, Sabaté E (2001) The challenge of chronic conditions: WHO responds. BMJ 323:947–948

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Newacheck PW, Halfon N (1998) Prevalence and impact of disabling chronic conditions in childhood. Am J Public Health 88:610–617

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Van Dyck PC, Kogan MD, McPherson MG, Weissman GR, Newacheck PW (2004) Prevalence and characteristics of children with special health care needs. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 158:884–890

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Perrin J, Bloom S, Gortmaker S (2007) The increase of childhood chronic conditions in the United States. J Am Med Assoc 297:2755–2759

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Bethell CD, Read D, Blumberg SJ, Newacheck PW (2008) What is the prevalence of children with special health care needs? Toward an understanding of variations in findings and methods across three national surveys. Matern Child Health J 12:1–14

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Newacheck PW, Taylor WB (1992) Childhood chronic illness: prevalence, severity, and impact. Am J Public Health 82:364–370

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Selnes A, Bolle R, Holt J, Lund E (2002) Cumulative incidence of asthma and allergy in north-Norwegian schoolchildren in 1985 and 1995. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 13:58–63

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Henderson P, Hansen R, Cameron FL, Gerasimidis K, Rogers P, Bisset MW, Reynish EL, Drummond HE, Anderson NH, van Limbergen J, Russell RK, Satsangi J, Wilson DC (2012) Rising incidence of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease in Scotland. Inflamm Bowel Dis 18:999–1005

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Van der Lee J, Mokkink L, Grootenhuis M, Heymans H, Offringa M (2007) Definitions and measurement of chronic health conditions in childhood—a systematic review. JAMA 297:2741–2751

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Coonley WC, McAllister JW (2004) Building medical homes: improvement strategies in primary care for children with special health care needs. Pediatrics 113:1499–1506

    Google Scholar 

  12. National Taskforce on Obesity (2005) Obesity: the policy challenges. The Report of the National Taskforce on Obesity

  13. Cameron N, Hastings G, Ellison G (2005) Childhood obesity contemporary issues, society for the study of human biology series. (CRC Press), p 25–38

  14. Layte R, Mccrory C (2011) Growing up in Ireland National Longitudinal Study of Children overweight and obesity among 9-year-olds. Government publications dublin

  15. Perry IJ, Millar SR, Baland KP, Dee A, Bergin D, Carter L, Doherty E, Fahy L, Hamilton D, Jaccard A, Knuchel-Takano A, McCarty L, McCune A, O’Malley G, Pimpin L, Queally M, Webber L (2017) What are the estimated costs of childhood overweight and ovesity on the island of Ireland. http://www.safefood.eu/SafeFood/media/SafeFoodLibrary/Documents/Publications/Research%20Reports/Cost-of-childhood-obesity-Report.pdf

  16. Cole TJ, Bellizzi MC, Flegal KM, Dietz WH (2000) Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide : international survey. Br Med J 320:1240–1243

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Pinquart M, Shen Y (2011) Depressive symptoms in children and adolescents with chronic physical illness: an updated meta-analysis. J Pediatr Psychol 36(4):375–384. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsq104

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Rankin J, Matthews L, Cobley S, Han A, Sanders R, Wiltshire HD, Baker JS (2016) Psychological consequences of childhood obesity: psychiatric comorbidity and prevention. Adolesc Health Med Ther 7:125–146

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Seigel WM, Golden NH, Gough JW, Lashley MS, Sacker IM (1990) Depression, self esteem and life events in adolescents with chronic diseases. J Adolesc Health Care 11(6):501–504

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Simmond M, Llewellyn A, Owen C, Woolacott N (2016) Predicting adult obesity from chilhood obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Obes Rev 17:95–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Guh D, Zhang W, Bansback N et al (2009) The incidence of co-morbidities related to obesity and overweight: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health 88:9–88

    Google Scholar 

  22. Lavoie K, Bacon SL, Labrecque M, Cartier A, Ditto B (2006) Higher BMI is associated with worse asthma control and quality of life but not asthma severity. Respir Med 100(4):648–657

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the contributions of Prof Ailish Hannigan and Dr. Helen Purtill, biostatisticians at the Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick.

Funding

The authors of this paper received no funding for its creation however Growing Up in Ireland is a government-funded study of children being carried out jointly by the ESRI and Trinity College Dublin.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Ark, University Hospital, Limerick, Ireland

    Michael P. Fitzgerald, Kerrie Hennigan, Clodagh S. O’Gorman & Laura McCarron

  2. Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Kerrie Hennigan & Clodagh S. O’Gorman

  3. Health Research Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Clodagh S. O’Gorman

Authors
  1. Michael P. Fitzgerald
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kerrie Hennigan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Clodagh S. O’Gorman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Laura McCarron
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael P. Fitzgerald.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

No animals were involved in this study. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Growing Up in Ireland is being conducted under ethical approval from the Health Research Board’s Research Ethics Committee. This involves a rigorous ethical review of each part of the study including international reports on the project’s design and content.

Informed consent

Detailed information sheets were prepared for all potential participants in Growing Up in Ireland, including parents, children, teachers, principals, non-resident parents and regular carers. These sheets described the type of information that would be gathered, what would be involved for participants, the longitudinal nature of the study and details about the researchers and funding bodies. All participants were informed of the voluntary nature of the study and of their right to refuse to answer any questions that they did not wish to answer. Signed consent was obtained from a parent/guardian and the Study Child concerned before any data were collected about that child.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fitzgerald, M.P., Hennigan, K., O’Gorman, C.S. et al. Obesity, diet and lifestyle in 9-year-old children with parentally reported chronic diseases: findings from the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal child cohort study. Ir J Med Sci 188, 29–34 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-018-1814-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-018-1814-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation