شيوع اضافه وزن چاقي در دانش آموزان نوجوان تهراني ، سال تحصيلي 80-1379

Prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescent students, 1999-2000 in Tehran

Introduction: The present study was carried out to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity in secondary school students. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in Tehran city, 2000-2001. Using multistage sampling method, 2321 students (1068 males and 1253 females) aged 11-16 years from 51 secondary schools of all the 20 departments of education and training were assessed. Body weight and height were measured and body mass index (BMI) values were calculated. Overweight and obesity were defined as > 85th and > 95th percentile of age-sex-specific NCHS/CDC 2000 BMI values, respectively. Results: The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity were 21.1 and 7.8%, respectively. The prevalence of overweight in girl students (23.1%; 95%CI: 20.8-25.4) was significantly higher than boys (18.8%; 95%CI: 16.5-21.1) (P=0.01). This difference remained significant after adjustment for age (OR=1.26, CI: 1.03-1.55, P=0.02). The observed difference between boys and girls was not significant for obesity even after adjustment for age. No significant risk of obesity associated with age was found in girls and boys. Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that in both sexes, median values of age-specific BMI in this study were statistically higher than corresponding values collected 10 years ago for adolescents in Tehran (P=0.03). Similarly, a significant difference was seen in girl students between this study and the reference values (P=0.03). The difference in boys was insignificant. Conclusion: According to this study, overweight, especially in girls, should be considered as an increasing epidemic health problem in adolescent students. in Tehran.