Prevalence of overweight and obesity among Costa Rican elementary school children.
OBJECTIVE
Given that excessive body weight during childhood influences the development of several chronic diseases in adulthood, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in urban and rural Costa Rican elementary school children.


METHODS
The study was carried out from July 2000 to April 2001. A total of 1 718 students ages 7-12 were selected from 34 schools in the capital city of San José and in other nearby urban and rural areas. Both younger children (ones aged 7 through 9 years) and older children (ones aged 10 through 12 years) with a body mass index (BMI) at or above the sex-specific 85th percentile were considered overweight. The younger children were classified as being obese if their triceps skinfold was greater than or equal to the 85th percentile for age and sex using the percentiles by age for children in the United States of America as normative standards. The older children were considered obese if they had a BMI at or above the sex-specific 85th percentile and both the triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness at or above the 90th percentile.


RESULTS
The prevalence of overweight was 34.5%. Children aged 7-9, boys, children from urban areas, and children of a higher socioeconomic status had a higher prevalence of overweight. The prevalence of obesity was 26.2%. A higher prevalence of obesity was found among children aged 7-9, boys, children from urban areas, and children of middle socioeconomic status.


CONCLUSIONS
Given the high prevalence of obesity that we found in the Costa Rican children, primary and secondary prevention measures are needed in order to reduce the proportion of deaths due to chronic nontransmissible diseases among Costa Rican adults in the coming decades.
Costa Rica, Ministry of Health, Costa Rican Institute for Research and Education on Nutrition and Health (INCIENSA), Tres Ríos, Cartago, Costa Rica.
Hilda Patricia
HP
Núñez-Rivas
Rafael
R
Monge-Rojas
Hania
H
León
Marlen
M
Roselló
D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D003364:Costa Rica / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012424:Rural Population; D012737:Sex Factors; D012885:Skinfold Thickness; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population