The increase in child obesity in Switzerland is mainly due to migration from Southern Europe – a cross-sectional study

Table 1 Rates of overweight and obesity (in percent) according to parent origin

Origin of both parents	Girls			Boys
Origin of both parents	n	Overweight^a	Obese	n	Overweight^a	Obese
Switzerland	2816	8.8	1.6	2867	9.6	1.2
Northern/Central Europe	383	7.0	0.8	387	5.4	1.0
Italy, Spain, Portugal	326	19.9	6.1	435	20.5	5.7
Balkan region	526	22.1	6.5	758	28.3	9.5
Turkey	135	23.0	5.2	144	25.0	6.3
One parent from Switzerland	1032	9.4	1.6	1084	9.0	1.6
other parent: Northern/Central Europe	312	8.3	0.6	348	7.5	1.7
other parent: Italy, Spain, Portugal	238	11.3	2.5	223	9.0	0.9
other parent: Balkan region	74	6.8	0	89	11.2	4.5
other parent: Turkey	22	13.6	0	22	18.2	4.5
other parent: from other regions	386	9.3	2.3	402	9.5	1.0
Not from the same region/from other regions	778	17.5	3.0	872	16.5	3.6
Total	5996	12.0	2.5	6547	13.4	2.9
χ²-test^b		χ²(12) = 169.96; p < 0.001^d			χ²(12) = 313.53; p < 0.001^d
χ²-test^c		χ²(2) = 119.93; p < 0.001			χ²(2) = 217.51; p < 0.001

^a Category including obese subjects defined by the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cut-offs [8]
^b χ²-test for association between IOTF category (non-overweight, overweight, obese) and origin of both parents (all categories)
^c χ²-test for association between IOTF category (non-overweight, overweight, obese) and origin of both parents (Switzerland versus Southern Europe)
^d One expected cell frequency was smaller than 5 (Northern/Central Europe)

ISSN: 1471-2458