Huda Abbass Alhadi
University of Khartoum, Sudan
Title: Prevalence of overweight and obesity and its associated risk factors among primary public school students (10-14 years old) in Arkaweet, Sudan
Biography
Biography: Huda Abbass Alhadi
Abstract
Introduction: Childhood obesity is one of the most serious health challenges of the 21st century. The problem is global and the prevalence is increasing at an alarming rate.
Materials & Methods: A descriptive cross sectional school based study was conducted among primary schools student's males and females in Arkaweet, Khartoum, Sudan. Simple random sampling was used. The data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Height and weight of the subjects were measured and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated, using growth charts of Center of Disease and Control (CDC).
Results: A total of 161 children between ages of 10 and 14 were involved in the study. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 34% and 4.97% respectively. Females had a higher prevalence of overweight 38.3% when compared to males 30%. Obesity also was highly prevalent in females (7.4%) than in males (2.4%) the majority of subjects studied healthy- weight (50.9%). The mean weight is 48.1, mean height is 141.2. There was significant association between educational level of father (p value=0.000), educational level of mother (p value=0.000), job of mother (p value=0.046), physical activities (p value=0.034), watching TV (p value=0.04) and playing video games (p value=0.000) for long hours per day, number of daily meals (p value=0.002), type of food, fast food (p value=0.032) and soft drinks consumption (p value=0.000) and family size (p value=0.003). There was obvious psychological impact among overweight and obese students, as they suffer a lot from their classmate bulling.
Conclusion: The results of the current study provide alarming evidence based data on the considerable prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity among primary public school students in Arkaweet, Khartoum, Sudan.