Adolescent obesity in Lebanese private schools.
BACKGROUND
Obesity has become a public health problem worldwide. Our objective was to calculate the prevalence of overweight and obesity.


METHODS
It is a cross sectional study of adolescents in private Lebanese schools, aged 10-18 years. Gender, birth date and measures of weight and height were recorded.


RESULTS
In 12,299 adolescents, we found high prevalence of obesity (7.5%) and at risk of obesity (24.4%). In girls, risk of obesity and obesity prevalence decrease with increasing age (P < 10(-4)) as compared with that in boys.


CONCLUSIONS
Early recognition of obesity should become routine in paediatric ambulatory care settings.
Chakar
Hilda
H
Faculty of Medicine, University of Balamand, Lebanon.
Salameh
Pascale R
PR
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007861:Lebanon / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D010372:Pediatrics; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D017149:Private Sector; D011379:Prognosis; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012574:Schools; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*