Abstract

AIM: To determine the prevalence of obesity and to determine associated risk factors in school-aged children in Kayseri Province, Turkey.
METHOD: This is a nested case-control study which conducted in two phases. First phase was carried out on 1226 students at four primary schools in the city center. In the second step of the research, 217 cases (overweight and obese) and 217 controls were analyzed for risk factors.
RESULTS: It was determined that the prevalence of overweight was 12.4%, the prevalence of obesity was 6.5%. Accordingly, it was found that the rate of the students who were above 85th percentile was 18.9%. Obesity was very common between the ages of 5 and 8. It was also found that obesity was considerably high in the students of the schools which were classified as high according to the socioeconomic status. BMI averages of parents of the obese students were higher.
CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that about one-fifth of students have obesity problem.

Key words: obesity, prevalence, student, primary school, nested case-control

Article Language: Turkish English