Pattern of Overweight and Obesity Among 1ry School Children in Ismailia City

Background: Body mass index (BMI), which is defined as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared (kg/m2), has been established as a useful standard measure of overweight and obesity. Although BMI does not directly measure body fat, it provides a reasonable estimate of adiposity which, in turn, also predicts risks for current or future medical complications of obesity. Aim: The aim of the present paper was to study the pattern of overweight and obesity in an urban area, Ismailia City). The specific objectives were to determine the prevalence and socioeconomic predictors of overweight and obesity. Methods: A cross sectional design was used. The target population in this study was 6-12 years old primary school children in Ismailia City, Egypt. A sample size of 339 was calculated from the target population (24000 children distributed among 43 lry schools) with an estimated proportion of overweight and obesity to be 17% (from a previous study) [17], 95% confidence coefficient and 4% Confidence interval [18]. Results: The data indicate that the prevalence of over- weight and obesity were 11.2% and 2.4%, respectively. It was found that overweight is more common in females, and to a lesser extent, in children of illiterate mothers. Also overweight and obesity were more common in the younger children and in those with smaller family size. However, total socioeconomic scores (status) did not, as expected, influence these relationships. Conclusion: Obesity in primary school-children is not a public health problem. On the other hand overweight is highly prevalent among our study group.