| Background and Objectives: The prevalence of childhood overweight
and obesity has been increasingly growing in many societies. The
present study aimed to determine body mass index (BMI) in primary
school boys and girls in Tabriz city.
Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 857
primary school students of Tabriz city in 2012-2013. First, BMI of
each person was calculated, and according to the NCHS standard
curves, the values below the 5th percentile were considered as
malnutrition and underweight, between the 85th-95th percentiles as
overweight, and equal to or above the 95th percentile as obesity. Data
were analyzed by one-sample t-test and t-test. The significance level
was considered to be p<0.05.
Results: According to the BMI data, the frequency of underweight,
overweight, and obesity in the male students, were 20.9, 5.5, and 3.1%,
and in female students were 18.8, 9.7, 0.9%, and in the total number of
students were 20.1, 7.4, and 2.1%, respectively. Compared to the 50th
percentile, the mean BMI in male students in the age group of 9 years
was higher (p<0.01) and in the age group of 6 years was lower
(p<0.05). This comparison in the female students indicated higher
mean BMI in the age groups of 7, 9, 10, and 11 years compared to the
50th percentile (p<0.05). The frequency of overweight among female
students (9.7%) was higher than male students (5.5%). However, the
frequency of obesity in the male students was approximately 3.5 times
higher than female students (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Given the existence of both malnutrition states of
underweight and obesity in the students and also the significant effect
of childhood body weight on chronic disorders in adulthood, proper
nutrition planning is necessary at the school level. |