Researches

Estimating the prevalence of obesity and related risk factors for the primary school children

  • Serdar Öztora
  • Sami Hatipoğlu
  • Mehmet Bahadır Barutçugil
  • Bahar Salihoğlu
  • Reyhan Yıldırım
  • Esra Şevketoğlu

Received Date: 28.10.2005 Accepted Date: 03.01.2006 Med J Bakirkoy 2006;2(1):11-14

Objective:

Our study is designed to estimate the prevalence of obesity and related risk factors for the primary school children of higher socioeconomic status.

Material and Methods:

Healthy children attending to a private school of National Education Ministry in Bak›rköy district were involved in the study. Between dates of 1.4.2003-1.6.2003, 299 students aged 6-15 years were included. A questionnaire was applied to students’ parents including questions about parents weight and height, eating habits, time spent for TV and computer, and the physical activity routine. The statistical analysis of the data from the children was made by SPSS 11.0.1.

Results:

In the study group, children who spend more than 4 hours daily for TV and computer, were significantly related with obesity.

Conclusion:

At the end of our study, the rate of overweight was %26.7 (n=80), rate of obesity was %8.4 (n=25), and overall rate of the children above the normal weight was %35.1 (n=105).

Keywords: Obesity, school aged children, body mass index