Obesity prevalence and affecting factors in primary school students in İzmir

Introduction and Purpose: Overweight and obesity is excess fat deposition that can affect body health adversely. It is one of the most severe public health problem of 21th century. Overweight and obese children will be overweight and obese adults of future. Adults who are obese in early childhood have a higher rate of non-infectious chronic disease development at early age than non-obese population. Aim of this study is investigating obesity rate and associated risk factors for obesity of primary school students in one of Izmir's district. Study Format: Sectional study Materials and Method: Five and nine years old primary school students in Bayraklı district of İzmir province were selected for the study. 535 child included into study. We excluded 128 child that have chronic disease or taking medicine that is associated with obesity or refusing to get into the study. Dependent variable was obesity and independent variables were defined by sociodemographic and natal features, physical activities, eating habits, watching television and playing computer games, family structure and parental weight. We conducted a questionnaire to parents and measured childrens weight and height thus calculated body mass index. Chi-square analysis, T-test and Mann Whitney U test were used for statistical calculations. Probablity rate was used for obesity and overweight associated factors. Results: Mean age is 8±1,1 years for 407 children. Overweight rate is %12 and obesity rate is %12. We detected that gender is not associated with obesity or overweight (p=0.486). Birth weight (p<0,05), untidy meal times (p=0,007), eating snacks (p=0,027), high monthly income (p=0,026), maternal (p=0,03) and paternal (p<0.05) obesity or overweight and being an only child (p=0,031) was found associated with obesity and overweight. Conclusion: In this study we detected that overweight and obesity frequencies of five to nine years old children in Bayraklı district are high and similar to developed countries. High monthly income, being an only child, parental obesity or overweight is associated obesity or overwight. This study points out the parents and caregivers need of education about healthy and balanced nutrition.