تعيين نسبت اضافه وزن چاقي در دختران دانش آموز دبيرستاني شهر تبريز

PREVALENCE OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY IN HIGH- SCHOOL GIRLS OF TABRIZ

Background and Objectives: Overweight and obesity are among the most prevalent nutritional problems in developed and developing countries. They are risk factors for various diseases and responsible for increasing mortality and morbidity rates. In adolescents these conditions are associated with overweight and obesity in the future years of life. In this study we attempted to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity by using Body Mass Index (B.M.I). Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 1518 high school girls aged 14-18 years were selected by stepwise random sampling from 5 districts of Tabriz. Overweight and obesity were defined as; 85th95th percentiles according to the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 1) respectively. Results: In total 14.6°/o (with a 95°/o confidence interval: 12.8-16.4%) of the subjects were observed overweight or obese. Overweight and obesity was seen in 1 l.l%( confidence interval with 95%: 9.5-12.7^/o) and 3.6^o ( confidence interval with 95^): 2.6-4.5^0) of students respectively. In studied subjects 8% ( confidence interval with 95%: 6.6-9.4%) had BMI below than 15th percentile. Conclusion: It seems that overweight and obesity in Tabriz high-school girls are more than other parts of Iran, and less than that reported in U.S studies as well as those from some neighbouring countries. In this age group in addition to overweight and obesity, problem of being underweight (BMI<15 th) should also be noticed.