title: Prevalence of obesity and central obesity among adolescent girls in a district school in Bangladesh.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of childhood obesity has increased over the last two decades. Obesity is a major risk factor for chronic diseases and plays a central role in insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome.
  
  
  METHODS
  The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity by means of body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) in adolescent girls in a district school in Bangladesh. Based on age and sex specific BMI percentiles, the students were classified as normal weight (5(th)-<85(th) percentile), overweight (85(th)-<95(th) percentiles), and obese (≥95(th) percentile). Central obesity was categorized as WHtR ≥ 0.5. Adolescent girls (aged 9-17 years) attending the sixth to twelfth grades (n = 501) in a Bengali medium school participated in the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of obesity and overweight were 23% and 14% among the girls. The prevalence of central obesity was 26%. Around 14% of girls in the normal weight group were centrally obese. There was a significant relationship between WHtR and BMI status (P = 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study provides evidence showing a high prevalence of overall and central obesity in adolescent girls in our population. We emphasize the need for further large scale surveillance programs and preventive strategies in our population to reduce the incidence of obesity.
authors.affiliation: Department of CDiC, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation of Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, Dhaka, Bangladesh ; Department of Paediatrics, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation of Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Bedowra
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zabeen
authors.affiliation: Department of CDiC, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation of Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, Dhaka, Bangladesh ; Department of Paediatrics, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation of Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Samin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tayyeb
authors.affiliation: Department of CDiC, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation of Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Farzana
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Naz
authors.affiliation: Department of CDiC, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation of Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Farhana
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Department of CDiC, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation of Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Maftunur
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation of Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Jebun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nahar
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation of Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Nazmun
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nahar
authors.affiliation: Department of CDiC, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation of Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, Dhaka, Bangladesh ; Department of Paediatrics, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation of Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Kishwar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Azad
keywords: Adolescent girls; central obesity; obesity; waist-height ratio