Obesity and overweight among primary school children in Iran.

AIM: The aim of this paper was to describe the prevalence of overweight (preobesity and obesity) among 7- to 13-year-old children in different parts of Jahrom City, Southern Iran, during 2008-2009. METHODS: A total of 1158 students (587 males and 571 females) aged 7-13 years were assessed over a period of 12 months. Schools were randomly selected in each district of the city, and the participating children were selected using stratified randomization for age, with the aid of a table of random numbers. Body Mass Index (BMI) was measured for each subject. We adopted the 5th, 85th and 95th percentiles of the CDC as cut-off points for thin, overweight and obese children, respectively, as generally accepted. RESULTS: Age of the children ranged from 7 to 13 years with a mean of 9.9 ± 1.6 years. A total of 58 boys (9.9%) and 57 girls (10%) were overweight, and the difference between them was not statistically significant. However, obesity was less prevalent among girls (4.9%) compared to boys (5.1%). CONCLUSION: In this survey, prevalence of obesity among girls and boys was 4.9% and 5.1%, respectively. The scope of prevalence of obesity is remarkable enough for a mid-size semi-industrialized society in comparison with heavy industrialized parts of Iran, thus there is an urgent need to target younger ages for prevention and implementation of public educational programs to curtail this rising trend of obesity in young men and women.

Trend in physical growth among children in southern Iran, 1988-2003.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss a significant secular trend in stature, weight and mid-arm circumference (MAC) of school children of the same age (6.5-11.5 years) and sex in representative samples from primary schools of Shiraz (southern Iran) at an interval of 15 years (1988 vs 2003). Both samples include children of various socio-economic backgrounds. For both males and females of each age-class, there are significant positive secular trends in stature, weight and MAC. The results suggest that post-war born children sampled in 2003 are generally taller, heavier and larger than their peers of 15 years earlier born pre- and during the war period of Iraq against Iran. Furthermore, the 2003 sample shows less growth deficits in relation to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reference data. The positive trend can be explained as the result of economic development and improvement of social and health indicators in the post-war Iran reconstruction period.