The prevalence of childhood obesity in a sample of schoolchildren in Belgrade

INTRODUCTION Obesity in children has become a global epidemic with many health and social consequences that often continue into adulthood. According to the International Obesity Task Force report from 2005, Serbia has had one of the most rapidly increasing trends in the prevalence of childhood obesity during the last 10 years. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of childhood obesity in a sample of schoolchildren in Belgrade and to investigate the correlation between child obesity and the presence of selected diseases. METHOD The study comprised of 854 pupils from two primary schools in Belgrade. The anthropometric data, as well as the data on the presence of selected diseases were obtained from medical records of regular health check-ups in the period from 2006-2007. The classification of childhood obesity was done according to the WHO percentiles reference data for obesity and overweight in children. Statistical analyses included ?2 test and correlation analysis. RESULTS In our sample of schoolchildren, the prevalence of obesity was 30.7%. The following diseases were present among the pupils: spinal deformities 192 (22.5%), chest wall deformities 90 (10.5%) and foot deformities 226 (26.5%). Statistically significant correlation was registered between child obesity and the presence of spinal (?=0.192; p=0.001) and foot deformities (?=0.099; p=0.049). Chest wall deformities were more frequent in the group of children with normal weight compared with the obese group (?2=0.206; p=0.052). Statistically significant correlation was registered between childhood obesity and the presence of hypertension (?=0.261; p=0.001). Regular physical activity was in correlation with the absence of childhood obesity (?=-0.093; p=0.055). CONCLUSIONS In our sample of Belgrade schoolchildren, we detected a high prevalence of obesity. Furthermore, a significant correlation between childhood obesity and the presence of hypertension, spinal deformities and foot deformities were also observed.