RESEARCH IN BRIEF Childhood obesity: an observational study Sebastiano Abela, Annamaria Bagnasco, Marisa Arpesella, Matteo Vandoni and Loredana Sasso Accepted for publication: 11 March 2013 Aim To investigate the eating habits and lifestyle of obese children. Background The rapid increase in obesity in developed countries, where at least 25% of the population is overweight or obese, is one of the major concerns for public health. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines obesity as a pandemic in developed countries. Moreover, a 2002 WHO report identifies obesity as one of the ten major risk factors for death worldwide. A review found that for an obese child, the risk of becoming an obese adult is between 2 and 6Á5 times higher than that for normal-weight children. In European Union, children’s overweight diagnosis per year is currently about 400,000. This trend is going to increase obesity health costs placed now at 7% of the Euro- pean Union medical expenses. The prevalence of obesity is less in the northern European countries (UK 20%, Finland 13%), while the peak were observed in the southern coun- tries (Greece 26%, Spain 27%) (Lobstein & Frelut 2003). In Italy, data from the Health and Welfare Ministry reported that 20% of the population aged between 6 and 17 years are overweight and 4% are obese. The causes of obesity are com- plex and multifactorial: sedentary lifestyle, nutritional pat- terns – with a correlation between obesity, and not having breakfast and consuming snacks between meals (Arpesella et al. 2008). Watching TV and/or playing video games more than 1–2 hours a day promotes obesity, seizures and postural disorders, poor school performance, and decreased sleep duration and quality (Choo et al. 2010). Study design Cross-sectional and observational study. Methods We submitted a multiple-choice questionnaire to 24 obese children, aged between 9 and 16 years (14 boys and 10 girls), to collect information about their activities, habits and lifestyle, especially diet and leisure time activities. The questionnaire is divided into two parts: one about eating habits and the other about physical activity. The former is taken from National Institute of Research and Nutrition Questionnaire (INRAN) and aims to collect information about quantity/quality of food that the child consumed dur- ing the main meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner), whereas the latter is taken from International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and aims to collect information about sedentary activities, organised sports, recreational activities and the number of hours of physical education in schools. The questionnaire was adapted to the context. The children enrolled in this study were from the paediatric clinic of the IRCCS San Matteo Foundation of Pavia, Italy. Written consent was obtained from parents. The questionnaire was administered by the nursing staff during the year 2010. Statistical analysis was carried out with EPI INFO, version 7.7.0 (Center for Disease Control of Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA, USA, http://wwwn.cdc. Authors: Sebastiano Abela, RN, MSN, PhD Student, Methodology of Research, University of Genoa, Genoa; Annamaria Bagnasco, PhD, University Researcher, Department of Health Science, Univer- sity of Genoa, Genoa; Marisa Arpesella, MS, Professor in Hygiene, Department of Public Health and Neuroscience, University of Pavia, Pavia; Matteo Vandoni, PhD, University Researcher, Depart- ment of Public Health and Neuroscience, University of Pavia, Pavia; Loredana Sasso, RN, MEdSC, MSN, Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy Correspondence: Annamaria Bagnasco, University Researcher, Methodology of Research, Department of Health Science, Univer- sity of Genoa, Via Pastore, 1, 16132 Genoa, Italy. Telephone: +39 010 353 85 13. E-mail: annamaria.bagnasco@unige.it © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Journal of Clinical Nursing, doi: 10.1111/jocn.12357 1