Clustering unhealthy lifestyle factors in Chinese children and adolescents with overweight or obesity

Abstract Background This study used latent class analysis (LCA) to examine the potential patterns of unhealthy lifestyle factors (ULFs) and their association with overweight and obesity in children and adolescents with overweight or obesity in China. Methods We conducted three cross-sectional survey...

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Main Authors: Qiong Wang, Min Yang, Kening Chen, Fangjieyi Zheng, Zhixin Zhang, Wenquan Niu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-03-01
Series:BMC Pediatrics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-025-05567-y
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author Qiong Wang
Min Yang
Kening Chen
Fangjieyi Zheng
Zhixin Zhang
Wenquan Niu
author_facet Qiong Wang
Min Yang
Kening Chen
Fangjieyi Zheng
Zhixin Zhang
Wenquan Niu
author_sort Qiong Wang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background This study used latent class analysis (LCA) to examine the potential patterns of unhealthy lifestyle factors (ULFs) and their association with overweight and obesity in children and adolescents with overweight or obesity in China. Methods We conducted three cross-sectional surveys, recruiting 7,927 children with obesity or overweight from September 2019 to January 2022. We used LCA to identify patterns of co-occurrence of ULFs based on seven types of behaviors. Multinomial logistic regression model was constructed to examine the association of fetal and neonatal factors with the clusters of ULFs. Results Of 7,927 participants, 7,627 (96.78%) had at least one ULF, and 6,942 (87.57%) had two or more ULFs concurrently. Using LCA, four distinct clusters were identified based on the elbow point of the Akaike’s information criterion (AIC), that is, “unhealthy food intake but long sleeping”, “relative health”, “healthy food intake but unhealthy eating-sleeping-sitting habits”, and “unhealthy food intake and unhealthy sitting-activity habits”. Moreover, several factors including sex, age, infancy feeding, parental obesity, and parental age were significantly associated with the clusters of ULFs. Conclusions We provide evidence on how multiple ULFs in combination may influence health among Chinese children and adolescents with overweight or obesity, and we agree that further external validations are warranted. Clinical trial number Not applicable.
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spelling doaj-art-eb3ad663bdda42c2acc5437fe9c59b8f2025-08-20T02:10:10ZengBMCBMC Pediatrics1471-24312025-03-012511810.1186/s12887-025-05567-yClustering unhealthy lifestyle factors in Chinese children and adolescents with overweight or obesityQiong Wang0Min Yang1Kening Chen2Fangjieyi Zheng3Zhixin Zhang4Wenquan Niu5Graduate School, Beijing University of Chinese MedicineChina Academy of Chinese Medical SciencesChinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeCenter for Evidence-Based Medicine, Capital Institute of PediatricsInstitute of Clinical Medicine, China-Japan Friendship HospitalCenter for Evidence-Based Medicine, Capital Institute of PediatricsAbstract Background This study used latent class analysis (LCA) to examine the potential patterns of unhealthy lifestyle factors (ULFs) and their association with overweight and obesity in children and adolescents with overweight or obesity in China. Methods We conducted three cross-sectional surveys, recruiting 7,927 children with obesity or overweight from September 2019 to January 2022. We used LCA to identify patterns of co-occurrence of ULFs based on seven types of behaviors. Multinomial logistic regression model was constructed to examine the association of fetal and neonatal factors with the clusters of ULFs. Results Of 7,927 participants, 7,627 (96.78%) had at least one ULF, and 6,942 (87.57%) had two or more ULFs concurrently. Using LCA, four distinct clusters were identified based on the elbow point of the Akaike’s information criterion (AIC), that is, “unhealthy food intake but long sleeping”, “relative health”, “healthy food intake but unhealthy eating-sleeping-sitting habits”, and “unhealthy food intake and unhealthy sitting-activity habits”. Moreover, several factors including sex, age, infancy feeding, parental obesity, and parental age were significantly associated with the clusters of ULFs. Conclusions We provide evidence on how multiple ULFs in combination may influence health among Chinese children and adolescents with overweight or obesity, and we agree that further external validations are warranted. Clinical trial number Not applicable.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-025-05567-yOverweight or obesityChildrenUnhealthy lifestyle factorsLatent class analysis
spellingShingle Qiong Wang
Min Yang
Kening Chen
Fangjieyi Zheng
Zhixin Zhang
Wenquan Niu
Clustering unhealthy lifestyle factors in Chinese children and adolescents with overweight or obesity
BMC Pediatrics
Overweight or obesity
Children
Unhealthy lifestyle factors
Latent class analysis
title Clustering unhealthy lifestyle factors in Chinese children and adolescents with overweight or obesity
title_full Clustering unhealthy lifestyle factors in Chinese children and adolescents with overweight or obesity
title_fullStr Clustering unhealthy lifestyle factors in Chinese children and adolescents with overweight or obesity
title_full_unstemmed Clustering unhealthy lifestyle factors in Chinese children and adolescents with overweight or obesity
title_short Clustering unhealthy lifestyle factors in Chinese children and adolescents with overweight or obesity
title_sort clustering unhealthy lifestyle factors in chinese children and adolescents with overweight or obesity
topic Overweight or obesity
Children
Unhealthy lifestyle factors
Latent class analysis
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-025-05567-y
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