title: Prevalence of flatfoot among school students and its relationship with BMI.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to analyze the relation between the flat-footedness and obesity.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1158 school children (653 male and 505 female) participated in this cross sectional descriptive study. According to their age, children were divided into three groups for each gender (6-10, 11-13, 14-18 years old). Diagnosis and severity of flatfoot was assessed in using the Dennis method. BMI of children were calculated as body weight divided by height squared (kg*m-2).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Majority (83.9%) of respondents had normal feet. The prevalence of flatfoot was 16.1% with a decreasing trend with age. Boys had a higher frequency of flatfoot than girls; however the difference was not significant (p > 0.05). The prevalence of flatfoot was 17.5% in boys and 14.5% in girls. The percentage of overweight and obese children was 10.3%. A significant difference in the prevalence of flatfoot occurred between; under-weight (13.9%), normal-weight (16.1%), overweight (26.9%), and obese (30.8%); children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity is one of the most serious health challenges across the globe, and a positive correlation between increased BMI; and flatfoot is one of the potential complications.
authors.affiliation: Cellular and Molecular Medical Research Centre, Department of Anatomical Sciences, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran. Electronic address: mpourghasem@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pourghasem
authors.affiliation: Cellular and Molecular Medical Research Centre, Department of Anatomical Sciences, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Nematollah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kamali
authors.affiliation: Cellular and Molecular Medical Research Centre, Department of Anatomical Sciences, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farsi
authors.affiliation: Cellular and Molecular Medical Research Centre, Department of Anatomical Sciences, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
authors.forename: Nabiollah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Soltanpour
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005413:Flatfoot / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013334:Students
keywords: Body mass index; Flatfoot; School children