Prevalence of overweight and obesity in grade five students in schools of Gampaha medical officer of health area

• Príomhchruthaitheoirí: U Perera (Údar), Chrishantha Abeysena (Údar)
• Formáid: LEABHAR
• Foilsithe / Cruthaithe: College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka, 2014-10-01T00:00:00Z.
• Ábhair: article
• Rochtain ar líne: Connect to this object online.

Achoimre

<p><strong>Introduction</strong><br />Overweight in childhood is an emerging health problem in developing countries.</p><p><strong>Objective</strong><br />To determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among grade five school children in schools of Gampaha Medical Officer of Health(MOH) area.</p><p><strong>Methods</strong><br />A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among the grade five students in government and private schools in Gampaha MOH area during September and October 2007. Nine schools from a total of 46 were selected applying multistage stratified cluster sampling method. Overweight and obesity were detected using age and sex specific body mass index cut-off points recommended by International Obesity Task Force.</p><p><strong>Results</strong><br />Among the 1110 children included in the study, the prevalence of overweight was 11.3 % (95%CI: 9.4-13.2). The prevalence of obesity was 2.2% (95% CI: 1.3-3.0). The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity were 13.4% and 13.6% for female and male respectively. Prevalence of overweight in private schools was higher than in government schools (p< 0.01).</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong><br />Prevalence of overweight and obesity in grade five students in schools of Gampaha MOH area were 11.3 % and 2.2%. Prevalence was higher in private schools.</p><p>DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/jccpsl.v19i2.7576">http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/jccpsl.v19i2.7576</a></p><p>Journal of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka <span>2014 June 19(2): 11-16</span></p>

Cur síos ar an mír

1391-3174
2579-1451
10.4038/jccpsl.v19i2.7576