Recent trends in childhood obesity and overweight in the transition countries of Eastern and Central Europe

Objective: Significant political changes-accompanied by economic changes and social restratification-occurred in Eastern and Central European countries in the 1990s. The main purposes of this study were to assess how prevalence of overweight and obese children changed in Hungary during this transitional period; and to compare the prevalence data of childhood overweight in Central and Eastern European countries, where a similar political and socioeconomic environment existed before the transition and similar changes occurred during the transitional period. Subjects and methods: Representative samples from the first (1983-1986) and second (2003-2006) Hungarian growth studies were used to assess the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity in Hungary. The most frequently used indicators of social welfare were used to estimate economic and health status as well as nutritional supply in the transition countries, while data on prevalence of childhood overweight in the studied countries were collected by a search of epidemiological surveys from the region. Results and conclusion: Frequency of overweight and obese children in Hungary increased between the 1980s and the beginning of the 2000s. Prevalence of childhood overweight was very similar in those Central and Eastern European countries where economic, nutritional or health indicators of general welfare were at a similar level.