Prevalence of obesity and some related factors among students aged 7 to 12 in Semnan, Iran

Obesity is one of the most important public health problems. During recent decades, prevalence of obesity among children has increased and this is also observed among Iranian children. This study is aimed to determine the prevalence of obesity and some related factors among students aged 7 to 12 in Semnan. This was a cross sectional study. 400 students aged between 7 to 12, were selected by randomized sampling from 20 elementary school. We measured height and weight of children and their parents to calculate BMI. They also completed a questionnaire which was designed to collect some interested variables. 14/3 % of children were "obese" and 18/8 % of them were categorized as "over weight". There was a significant association between obesity and gender, so a higher rate of obesity in boys and overweight in girls was observed. Also getting older per each year, the obesity became higher 1.26 times. A significant relationship was observed between obesity of father, mother and children, so an increase of each unit of BMI their father and mother, the obesity chance in children became equal to 1.18 and 1.15 respectively. There was no significant association between obesity and other parameter studied such as consuming of fast food, watching TV and working with computer, daily commute to school, rank of birth, number of families, or parent’s educational levels. The prevalence of obesity during childhood is increasing, in Semnan and it correlates with obesity of parents. Therefore training of parents and also their children might be an effective way to decrease obesity among children.