The investigation of nutritional behavior of the primary school children in the centre of the diyarbakir city

ABSTRACTTHE INVESTIGATION OF NUTRITIONAL BEHAVIOR OF THEPRIMARYSCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE CENTRE OF THE DIYARBAKIR CITYÖzcan Özdemir, MDDicle University Faculty of Medicine Department of Family PracticeDirector: smail Hamdi KARA, MD, Assoc. Prof.Objective: Our aim was to determine the nutritional properties, body mass index (BMI)calculated from weight and height, and sociodemographic features of primary school childrenin the center of Diyarbak r City.Methods: The study was designed as a cross-sectional epidemiological study. Primary schoolchildren who were selected with stratified randomized sampling method according to age andsex; 32 classroom selected from 15 school (1-8 level) in the center of Diyarbak r City, andnumber of student was determined as 1148 and 1124 student were reached. A questionnaireform containing questions about the sociodemographic features, weight, height, BMI, andnutritional features of students was applied.Results: Mean age of 1124 student in total, 630 boys (56,0%) and 494 girls (44,0%), who wereenrolled to the study was 11,1±2,4 years. The mean numbers of residents in homes were7,5±2,8, and the numbers of children were 4,5±2,1. 43,3% of boys and 43,4% of girls were inthe group containing 7-10 resident in home. 54.8% of mothers were illiterate and 75% of themwere house-wife while 17% of fathers were illiterate and 26,2% of them were unemployed.According to CDC-BMI-for-age percentiles 9,0% of male students were weakness andundernutrient, 11.7% have the risk of being overweight and 3.1% were overweight. Nostatistical difference was found in the prevalence between males and females (p>0.05).According to CDC-BMI-for-age percentiles, the prevalence of risk of being overweight andobese among the children younger than ten years in both males and females were foundsignificantly higher (p<0.0001 and p<0.0001, respectively). Especially the mean weight andheight of female student in group of eleven years old was detected to be high when comparedwith the male students (p<0,0001). The prevalence of weakness in male students wassignificantly high among the eleven and twelve years old children (18,6 and %15,0; p<0.0001).Conclusion: The most important predictors of growth are socioeconomical status andeducation of families among primary school students in our region. Particularly, at this pointschool health care included in primary health care must re-planned, emphasizing to thenutritional education, and the children with their families must be informed about factorsaffecting growth and prevention.Key words: Primary school, student, nutrition, education57