Prevalence and risk factors of obesity in school children in Antalya, Turkey

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and risk factors of obesity and to obtain the age and gender-specific body mass index (BMI) percentiles in a cohort of children aged 6-17 years, living in the province of Antalya, Turkey.

METHODS: The study included 15 schools throughout the city center of Antalya, Turkey during the period November 2002-March 2003. A total of 2465 school children (boys 1233, girls 1232) aged 6-17 years were chosen using a population based stratified cluster sampling method. We calculated the BMI (kg/m2) by measuring the weight and standing height. Overweight was defined as BMI between 85th and 95th percentile, and obesity as BMI above the 95th percentile. A questionnaire was distributed to the parents to determine obesity-related risk factors.

RESULTS: The overall prevalence of obesity was 3.6% while overweight was 14.3%. According to gender, the prevalence of obesity in boys was 3.9% and overweight was 12.8%, while in girls, obesity was 3.2% and overweight was 15.8%. We found that obesity might be related with some factors such as number of regular meals, number of siblings, high birth weight, having computer at home, skipping breakfast and high socioeconomic status of parents.

CONCLUSION: There is no difference in obesity prevalence among school children according to gender, but the mean BMI of girls is significantly higher than that of boys. Obesity prevalence among children in Antalya is very low compared to Europe and the United States.