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


METHODS
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, > or = 85th and > or = 95th percentile, respectively, of age- and sex-specific BMI values from the National Center for Health Statistics/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2000).


METHODS
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).


CONCLUSIONS
According to this study, overweight, especially in girls, should be considered an epidemic health problem among adolescent students in Tehran.
Mohammadpour-Ahranjani
B
B
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. B.Mohammadpour@nnftri.ac.ir
Rashidi
A
A
Karandish
M
M
Eshraghian
M R
MR
Kalantari
N
N
D000293:Adolescent; D017195:Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors