PREVALENCE OF OBESITY IN SCHOOL CHILDREN OF HAZARA DIVISION

Authors

  • Israr ul Haq
  • Tahir Saeed Siddiqu
  • Muhammad Ali Jan

Abstract

Background: Limited data is available in Pakistan regarding prevalence of obesity in schoolgoing children. The objective of this study was to find out obesity prevalence in school goingchildren in Hazara division. Methods: It was descriptive study. Data of 3200 students wascollected over six month period, from Hazara Division. Four schools were selected in each districttwo for boys and two for females. District Kohistan was excluded from study as female educationis not permitted beyond primary education. Children 5–14 year age group were included in thestudy. Initial 20 students of each class were selected for study. Anthropometric data (weight,height) for each student was collected and entered on Performa structured for this purpose. BMIwas calculated and values were compared with standard BMI charts of National Health Centre forhealth statistics. Results: Prevalence of obesity was 4.78%. Out of 3,200 children enrolled 153(4.78%) were obese. Male to female ratio was 1:1.2. The prevalence of obesity was high in privateschool students than government schools (66.66% and 33%). The prevalence was high in bothsexes in 12–14 years and 6–7 years age groups (49% and 20.26%). Conclusion: Prevalence ofobesity in present study is similar to the results from developing countries in the region butprevalence is lower than developed countries. Problem of obesity also exists in developingcountries and there is need to create awareness about obesity and related complications.Keywords: Obesity, BMI, Nutrition, Hazara, Children

References

World Health Organization. Preventing chronic diseases: A vital

investment. World Global report. Geneva: World Health

Organization: 2005. Available at: http://www.who.int/chp/

chronic_disease_report/en/

Heber D. An integrative view of obesity. Am J Clin Nutr

;91:280–3.

Fox KR. Childhood Obesity and the role of physical activity. J

Royal Soc Promot Health.2004;124(1):34–9.

Khor GL. Update on prevalence of malnutrition among children

in Asia. Nepal Med Coll J 2003;5(2):113–22.

Afzal N, Naveed M. Childhood obesity and Pakistan .J Coll

Physicians Surg Pak 2004;14(3):189–92.

Poskit EM. Tackling childhood obesity: diet, physical activity or

life style change? Acta Paediatr 2005;94:396–8.

Apovian CM. The causes, prevalence, and treatment of obesity

revisited in 2009: what we have learned so far? Am J Clin Nutr

;91:277–9.

Frank PW, Hanson RL, Knowler WC, Seivers ML, Benneth PH,

Looker HC. Childhood obesity, other cardiovascular risk factors,

and premature death. N Engl J Med 2010;362:485–93.

Reily JJ, Dorosty AR, Emmet PM. Prevalence of overweight and

obesity in British children: cohort study. BMJ 1999;319:1039.

Barlow Se, Dietz WH. Obesity evaluation and treatment: Expert

committee recommendations. The maternal and child health

Bureau, Health Resources and services administration and

J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad 2010;22(4)

http://www.ayubmed.edu.pk/JAMC/PAST/22-4/Israr.pdf

department of health and human services. Pediatrics

;102:e29.

Apfelbacher CJ, Cairns J, Bruckner T, Mohrenschlager M,

Behrendt H, Ring J, et al. Prevalence of overweight and obesity

in East and West German children in the decade after

reunification: population-based series of cross sectional studies. J

Epidemol Community Health 2008;62:125–30.

Aekplakorn W, Mo-Suvan L. Prevalence of obesity in Thailand.

Obes Rev 2009;10(6):587–8.

Raj M, Sundaram KR, Paul M, Deepa AS, Kumar K. Obesity in

Indian Children: Time Trends and relationship with hypertension.

Natl Med J India 2007;20:288–93.

Sawaya AL, Dallal G, Solymos G, de Sousa MH, Ventura ML,

Roberts SB, et al. Obesity and Malnutrition in Shanty Town

population in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Obes Res

;2:107–15.

Al Nuam AR. Population based epidemiological study of the

prevalence of overweight and obesity in Saudi Arabia. Ann Saudi

Med 1997;17(2):195–99.

World health organization. Diet, Nutrition and prevention of

chronic diseases. Geneva: 2003. Available at:

http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/trs916/en/

Popkin BM, Doak CM. The obesity epidemic is worldwide

phenomenon. Nutr Rev1998;56:106–14.

Bar Oro, Foreyt J, Bouchard C, Brownel KD, Dietz WH,

Ravussin E, et al. Physical activity, genetic, and nutritional

considerations in childhood weight management. Med Sci Sports

Excerc 1998;30:2–10.

Sorensen TI. Socioeconomic aspects of obesity: Cause or

effect1995;19(6):86–8.

Garrow JS. Obesity: In Gaoow JS, James W. Human Nutrition

and dietetic. London: Churchill Livingstone; 1993.p. 565–79.

Published

2010-12-01

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 4 (2010): JOURNAL OF AYUB MEDICAL COLLEGE, ABBOTTABAD

Section

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

License

Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad is an OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL which means that all content is FREELY available without charge to all users whether registered with the journal or not. The work published by J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad is licensed and distributed under the creative commons License  CC BY ND Attribution-NoDerivs. Material printed in this journal is OPEN to access, and are FREE for use in academic and research work with proper citation. J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad accepts only original material for publication with the understanding that except for abstracts, no part of the data has been published or will be submitted for publication elsewhere before appearing in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. The Editorial Board of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and authenticity of material printed in J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad. However, conclusions and statements expressed are views of the authors and do not reflect the opinion/policy of J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad or the Editorial Board.

USERS are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

AUTHORS retain the rights of free downloading/unlimited e-print of full text and sharing/disseminating the article without any restriction, by any means including twitter, scholarly collaboration networks such as ResearchGate, Academia.eu, and social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and any other professional or academic networking site.