title: Prevalence of overweight, obesity, and thinness in Cameroon urban children and adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the prevalence of thinness, overweight, and obesity in Cameroon children ranging from 8 to 15 years old using several published references as evaluation tools.
  
  
  METHODS
  A stratified sample was used with eleven schools randomly selected, and data from 2689 children (52.2% girls) ranging from 8 to 15 years were analyzed. Weight and height were recorded and BMI was calculated. BMI cutoffs used to define nutritional status grades included two international and three national published indices which were compared to our database-derived cutoffs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A prevalence of 9.5% thinness and 12.4% overweight including 1.9% obesity according to international references was detected. A 2.2% low-weight-for-age, 5.7% low-height-for-age, and 5.2% low-weight-for-height were identified. Overall, there were significant differences using calculations based on our database versus published reference values and between boys versus girls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates that prevalence of thinness, overweight, and obesity is similar to that of other leading-emerging countries reported within the last decade, yet it is still lower than prevalence in developed countries. Ethnic background and social environment have impact on prevalences, highlighting the importance of evaluating the Cameroon population based on locally derived database.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Nutrition and Nutritional Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé 1, P.O. Box 8418, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
authors.forename: Ponce Cedric Fouejeu
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Wamba
authors.forename: Julius
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Enyong Oben
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cianflone
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000886:Anthropometry; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002163:Cameroon / Q000453:epidemiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009752:Nutritional Status; D050177:Overweight / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D013851:Thinness / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014504:Urban Health