Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T21:42:21.911Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prevalence of overweight and obesity in adolescent Tehrani students, 2000–2001: an epidemic health problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

B Mohammadpour-Ahranjani ,
A Rashidi ,
M Karandish ,
MR Eshraghian  and
N Kalantari
B Mohammadpour-Ahranjani*
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, PO Box 19395-4741, Tehran, Iran
A Rashidi
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, PO Box 19395-4741, Tehran, Iran
M Karandish
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition, School of Paramedical Sciences, Ahwaz University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Ahwaz, Iran
MR Eshraghian
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Tehran, Iran
N Kalantari
Affiliation:
Department of Community Nutrition, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Tehran, Iran
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Objective:

Overweight has become a public health problem in most developing countries. Evidence suggests that adolescence is a critical period in determining adulthood obesity and its complications. The present study was carried out to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity among secondary school students.

Design and setting:

This descriptive study was conducted in Tehran city, 2000–2001. Body weight and height were measured and body mass index (BMI) values were calculated. Underweight, overweight and obesity were defined as <5th, ≥85th and ≥95th percentile, respectively, of age- and sex-specific BMI values from the National Center for Health Statistics/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2000).

Subjects:

Using a multistage sampling method, 2321 students (1068 males and 1253 females) aged 11–16 years were assessed in Tehran, the capital city of Iran.

Results:

The overall prevalences of overweight and obesity were 21.1 and 7.8%, respectively. The prevalence of overweight among girl students (i.e. 23.1%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 20.8–25.4) was significantly higher than that among boys (i.e. 18.8%; 95% CI 16.5–21.1, P = 0.01) even after adjustment for age (odds ratio 1.26, 95% CI 1.03–1.55, P = 0.02). No significant risk of obesity associated with age was found in girls or boys. In both sexes, median values of age-specific BMI in this study were statistically higher than corresponding values collected in Tehrani adolescents 10 years ago (P = 0.03). Similarly, a significant difference was seen between girl students in this study and the reference population (P = 0.03).

Conclusion:

According to this study, overweight, especially in girls, should be considered an epidemic health problem among adolescent students in Tehran.

Keywords

AdolescenceOverweightObesityTehran
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 7 , Issue 5 , August 2004 , pp. 645 - 648
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2004

References

1Popkin, BM. The nutrition transition and obesity in the developing world. Journal of Nutrition 2001; 131: 871S–3S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2Ghassemi, H, Harrison, G, Mohammad, K. An accelerated nutrition transition in Iran. Public Health Nutrition 2002; 5(1A): 149–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3Dietz, WH. Critical periods in childhood for the development of obesity. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1994; 59: 955–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4Must, A, Strauss, RS. Risks and consequences of childhood and adolescent obesity. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders 1999; 23(Suppl 2): S2–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5National Center for Health Statistics in collaboration with the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Body mass index-for-age percentiles, 2000 [online]. Available at www.cdc.gov/growthchartsGoogle Scholar
6World Health Organization (WHO). Obesity, Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic. Report of a WHO Consultation on Obesity, Geneva, 3–5 June 1997. Geneva: WHO, 1998.Google Scholar
7Hosseini, M, Carpenter, RG, Mohammad, K, Jones, ME. Standardized percentile curves of body mass index of Iranian children compared to the US population reference. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders 1999; 23: 783–6.Google Scholar
8Hanley, AJ, Harris, SB, Gittelsohn, J, Wolever, TM, Saksvig, B, Zinman, B. Overweight among children and adolescents in a Native Canadian community: prevalence and associated factors. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2000; 71: 693–700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9Troiano, RP, Flegal, KM, Kuczmarski, RJ, Campbell, SM, Johnson, CL. Overweight prevalence and trends for children and adolescents. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1963 to 1991. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 1995; 149: 1085–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10Thakur, N, D'Amico, F. Relationship of nutrition knowledge and obesity in adolescence. Family Medicine 1999; 31: 122–7.Google Scholar
11Amine, EK. The prevalence of obesity among male and female preschool children and school students in Qatar (a national study). In: Proceedings of the 9th World Congress on Clinical Nutrition London24–26 June 2002.UK:University of Westminster, 2002; 146.Google Scholar
12Iyer, UM, Parikh, A, Gandhi, H, Mani, UV. Childhood obesity: prevalence and risk factor analysis. In: Proceedings of the 9th World Congress on Clinical Nutrition, London24–26 June 2002.UK:University of Westminster, 2002; 181.Google Scholar
13Rios, M, Fluiters, E, Perez-Mendez, LF, Garcia-Mayor, EG, Gracia-Mayor, RV. Prevalence of childhood overweight in Northwestern Spain: a comparative study of two periods with a ten year interval. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders 1999; 23: 1095–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14Leung, SS, Ng, MY, Lau, TF. Prevalence of obesity in Hong Kong children and adolescents aged 3–18 year [abstract]. Chung Hua Yu Fang I Hsueh Tsa Chih 1995; 29: 270–2.Google Scholar
15Moon, HN, Hong, SJ, Suh, SJ. The prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents [abstract]. Korean Journal of Nutrition 1992; 25: 413–8.Google Scholar
16Ghassemi, H. Food and nutrition security in Iran: studies of planning and implementation models. Final report of research project, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Tehran, 1998 [in Farsi].Google Scholar
17World Health Organization (WHO). Physical Status: The Use and Interpretation of Anthropometry. WHO Technical Report Series No. 854. Geneva: WHO, 1995.Google Scholar