Čes-slov Pediat 2023, 78(5):275-280 | DOI: 10.55095/CSPediatrie2023/046

The effect of restrictions associated with the covid-19 disease on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Czech childrenThe epidemic of childhood obesity

Anna Vážná¹, Jana Vignerová², Marek Brabec^{3, 4}, Jan Novák¹, Bohuslav Procházka⁵, Antonín Gabera⁶, Ilona Huleová⁷, Hana Cabrnochová⁸, Jana Kulhánková⁹, Petr Sedlak¹

¹ Katedra antropologie a genetiky člověka, Přírodovědecká fakulta, Univerzita Karlova, Praha

² Endokrinologický ústav, Praha

³ Ústav informatiky, Akademie věd České republiky, Praha

⁴ Státní zdravotní ústav, Praha

⁵ praktický lékař pro děti a dorost, Kutná Hora

⁶ praktický lékař pro děti a dorost, Ústí nad Labem

⁷ praktický lékař pro děti a dorost, Bystřice pod Hostýnem

⁸ praktický lékař pro děti a dorost, Praha-Libuš

⁹ praktický lékař pro děti a dorost, Ústí nad Labem

The COVID-19 disease brought changes in the functioning of society and many restrictions, apart from restriction of population movement, also the closure of schools and sports facilities. The extension of the time of exposure to mobile and computer screens due to online education contributed, together with the reduction of sports activities, to sedentary behaviour. Diet also underwent negative changes. The restrictions created an obesogenic environment, which worsened the already concerning situation in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the child population. The aim of our study was to assess the consequences of this situation in the population of Czech children based on data on the prevalence of overweight and obesity. In cooperation with paediatricians from all over the Czech Republic, we obtained data from 3'517 children (1'759 boys and 1' 758 girls) between the ages of 4.7 and 17.3 years. The collection of growth data from preventive examinations took place from April to the end of June 2021 and included also data of the child's from his 3 previous examinations. On this basis, the trend of obesity from the pre-covid period was filtered out using a flexible semi-parameter model. This allowed an objective view of how the restrictions associated with COVID-19 actually affected the child population. Our model shows that children in the peripubertal age (i.e. between the ages of 9 and 13) were most affected by the restrictions and increased their weight in both sexes. In general, the situation was more serious for boys, in which there was also a significant change in the percentage in each category of excessive weight. In 9- and 11-year-old boys, there were fewer individuals in the category of overweight than obesity. The prevalence of 9-year-old boys was 17.6% overweight, compared to 21.5% of boys with obesity, as well as 21.8% compared to 27.8% for 11-year-olds. Of this, 7.3% and 4.1% were in the category of severe obesity. The significant increase in obesity, and especially its severe form, represents a significant negative influence on the present and future life of children.

Keywords: COVID-19, childhood obesity, obesity and overweight, Czech children, GAM, complexity penalized splines

Published: August 1, 2023  Show citation