PREVALENCE OF GENERAL AND ABDOMINAL OBESITY, OVERWEIGHT AMONG HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS IN URMIA

Obesity is now reaching epidemic proportions in both developed and developing countries and is affecting not only adults but also children and adolescents. Increasing prevalence of adolescent obesity has become a growing matter of public health concern worldwide. The aim of current study was to determine the prevalence of general and abdominal obesity, overweight among high school girls in Urmia.
This analytical cross-sectional study was performed on 800 girl's high school students in Urmia. Required data was collected through interviews and anthropometric measurements.BMI and WHR were measured using standard methods. According to the WHO standards, WHR equal to or greater than 0.8 were considered as abdominal obesity. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS software version 21.
The prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity among all girl's students were %2.9, %20.5 and %10.9 respectively. These values were among girls were reported %3.1, %21.5 and%13.8 in first period and %2.8, %20.0 and %9.5 in second period respectively. The prevalence of abdominal obesity was also %42.75. There was not a significant relationship between BMI percentile and the first and second period high school students.
According to these findings, the prevalence of overweight, general and abdominal obesity in students, especially in older age groups, are on warning aspect. Therefore, intervention programs to prevent risky behavior of overweight and obesity in students is essential.