Abstract
Childhood obesity has become a serious public health problem because of its strong association with adulthood obesity and the related adverse health consequences. No published information is available on the prevalence of childhood obesity in Bangladeshi population.
Objective: The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity and its risk factors in primary school children of Dhaka city.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which was focused on the prevalence of childhood obesity and overweight in primary school children of Dhaka city of Bangladesh. This study include 1200 participants (both boys and girls aged 6 to 13 years old) by following simple random procedure. The participation rate was 85.5%. On the basis of predefined scoring, subjects were classified as underweight, normal, overweight and obese if their weight-for-height values were (<90.99% under weight, 91-110% normal weight, 111-120% overweight and > 120% obese) of median values for study children. Univariate multinominal regression models were used to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and the 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the three categories of weight-for-height (underweight, overweight and obese). Multivaiate multinominal regression models were used to estimate adjusted OR and the 95% CI for the three categories of weight-for-height.
Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was found 13.2% (95% CI: 11.33 - 15.17) and 17.8 % (95% CI: 15.59 - 19.91) in the present study, respectively and also the prevalence of overweight and obesity among boys and girls were 13.6% (95% CI: 10.83 - 16.41), 22.1% (95% CI: 18.69 - 25.45), 12.9% (95% CI: 10.26 - 15.54) and 13.7% (95% CI: 11 - 16.42) respectively. There were significant difference found in weight for height (p = 0.015) and weight (p < 0.001) between boys and girls. Mean fat intake of the obese group was significantly higher in overweight and underweight group (p=0.008). The odd for obesity was higher for boys compared to the girls. The (p=0.003 and 95% CI 1.19 - 2.29). The household monthly income and parents education has a significant risk for obesity, even after adjusted with, age, income, parent’s education, and physical activities compared to the reference groups.
Conclusion: These data shows that a high prevalence of overweight and obesity in primary school children of Dhaka city Bangladesh. Positive energy balance with higher fat intake, family high income, parents high education seem to be among the underlying factors for increasing prevalence of childhood obesity