title: Correlation of Body Mass Index and Physical Activity Among 7- to 11-Year Children at Zahedan, Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Childhood obesity is currently one of the major concerns in pediatric field. In recent literature, correlation of obesity with some behavioral factors such as physical activity (PA) received attention.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and PA.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was carried out in 2012 on 548 randomly selected 7- to 11-year schoolchildren from Zahedan, Iran. The underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obesity status were all based on BMI percentiles for age and sex. Moderate to vigorous PA during the previous 7 days was assessed by a modified version of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obesity among the participants was 18.3%, 47.9%, 11.8%, and 22.1%, respectively. Overweight and obesity were significantly higher among girls than boys. Mean PA score in participants was 2.4 ± 0.5. The results showed the PA score was significantly higher among boys than girls. The PA score had a significant association with BMI ( P = .018), and it was greater in normal participants than in obese participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On the basis of observed data and due to the impact of PA on BMI as an indicator of nutritional status and health, teaching children to have better nutrition and lifestyle changes is very important. Therefore, more studies should focus on childhood obesity prevention programs to prevent nonoverweight children from becoming overweight or obese in the future.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Nutrition, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Keykhaei
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Nutrition, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Islamic Republic of Iran.|3 Children and Adolescent Health Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: Mansour
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shahraki
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Nutrition, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sargolhosseinzadeh
authors.affiliation: 3 Children and Adolescent Health Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Islamic Republic of Iran.|4 Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: Touran
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shahraki
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Nutrition, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dashipour
keywords: body mass index; children; physical activity