Prevalence of Obesity among Elementary School Students in Yazd in 2016

Mozhgan  Modarresi; Arezoo  Aghakoochak; Mahmood  Vakili; Seyed Ali  mahmoodi; Akram  Ghadiri-Anari

doi:10.18502/ijdo.v16i4.17285

Mozhgan Modarresi Department of Community Medicine, Health Monitoring Research Center,School of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran
Arezoo Aghakoochak Health Monitoring Research Center, School of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran
Mahmood Vakili Department of Community Medicine, Health Monitoring Research Center,School of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
Seyed Ali mahmoodi Medical Student, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
Akram Ghadiri-Anari Department of Internal Medicine, Diabetes Research Center, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijdo.v16i4.17285

Keywords: Pediatric obesity, Overweight, Body mass index

Abstract

Background: Pediatric obesity is one of the most serious public health problems due to high prevalence and
negative outcomes. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of Pediatric overweight and obesity
and some associated factors among students of elementary school in Yazd- Iran- 2016.

Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, a total of 1253 healthy elementary school students were
selected by multistage sampling. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated. The diagnosis of childhood
overweight and obesity was based on WHO criteria. The parents of the students had the consent to participate
in the study. Data analysis was performed by using SPSS version 16 software. Data were reported as mean ±
standard deviation or frequency and analyzed by using chi-square test. P-value less than 0.05 were considered
statistically significant.

Results: In this study 531 (42.4%) were male and 722 (57.6%) were female. In this study 11.5 % of the boys
and 10.2 % of the girls were obese. Also, 10.2 % of the boys and 14.8% of the girls were overweight
respectively. Relationship between gender and BMI was statistically significant (P< 0.0001). Obesity was
more frequent in boys but overweight was more frequent in girls. The relationship between BMI and father's
occupation (P= 0.03) and mother's occupation (P= 0.03) and mother's education (P= 0.02) was statistically
significant.

Conclusion: Due to the high prevalence of obesity and overweight in primary school children, school-based
interventions in this age group is necessary