title: Prevalence of obesity and its comorbidities among schoolchildren in Taiwan.
abstract: To evaluate the prevalence of obesity and its comorbidities among a representative sample of elementary schoolchildren in Taiwan, the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan Elementary School Children used a stratified, multi-staged complex sampling scheme. In total 2,405 children (1,290 boys and 1,115 girls) were included. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 15.5 and 14.7% in boys and 14.4 and 9.1% in girls. With respect to geographic differences, the prevalence of obesity for boys was highest in the southern area (23.3% for the 3rd stratum) and lowest in the mountain area (4.3%). For girls, the prevalence of overweight and obesity was highest in the central area (13.0% for the 3rd stratum) and lowest in the southern area (2.6% for the 3rd stratum). The obese children had higher mean levels of blood pressure, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol, uric acid and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, but lower level of high density lipoprotein-cholesterol when compared with the normal weight children. For obese and normal weight boys, the prevalence was 12.9 % vs. 0.3 % for high blood pressure, 31.4 % vs. 19.6 % for dyslipidemia, and 6.4 % vs. 0.8 % for abnormal serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase level. In conclusion, we found that about one third of the boys and one quarter of the girls were overweight and/or obesity in Taiwan. Furthermore, the prevalence of obesity-related comorbidities was significantly increased for obese and/or overweight elementary schoolchildren in the Taiwan area.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital and School of Pubilc Health, National Defense Medical Center, Nei-Hu, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. chuepi@ndmctsgh.edu.tw
authors.forename: Nain-Feng
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Wen-Han
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015897:Comorbidity; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology