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PREVALENCE OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY ANDUNDERNUTRITION AMONG URBAN SCHOOL CHILDREN INBANGLADESH

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2018

Niru Sultana ,
Sadya Afroz ,
Nehlin Tomalika ,
Hasina Momtaz  and
Md Humayun Kabir
Niru Sultana*
Affiliation:
Department of Community Medicine, Ibrahim Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Sadya Afroz
Affiliation:
Department of Community Medicine, Ibrahim Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Nehlin Tomalika
Affiliation:
Department of Community Medicine, Ibrahim Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Hasina Momtaz
Affiliation:
Department of Community Medicine, Ibrahim Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Md Humayun Kabir
Affiliation:
Department of Community Medicine, Ibrahim Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh
*
1Corresponding author. Email: niru_sultana@yahoo.com
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Summary

Despite the ongoing problems of undernutrition andinfectious disease, obesity and overweight havebecome a major problem in developing countries,including Bangladesh. This cross-sectional study wasundertaken to determine the prevalence of obesity,overweight and underweight among school childrenaged 6–12 years in Bangladesh. The study wasconducted from June 2012 to May 2013 and the studysample comprised 1768 children (980 boys; 788 girls)from eight purposively selected schools in differentareas of Dhaka city. Students were interviewed abouttheir diet and physical activity, and anthropometricmeasurements were made, including height, weight,mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC), waistcircumference, hip circumference and body mass index(BMI). Undernutrition, overweight and obesity weredefined using internationally accepted BMI cut-offpoints. Mean height, weight, BMI, MUAC, waistcircumference and hip circumference values werefound to be higher in boys than in girls, except atage 12 when these were found to be significantlyhigher in girls than in boys(p<0.05). The meanprevalence of overweight was 10.0% (boys 10.2%;girls 9.8%), and that of obesity 5.0% (boys 4.3%;girls 5.8%). The prevalence of underweight was 16.3%in boys and 12.7% in girls. The prevalence ofunderweight was significantly higher in poor than inrich children (22.1% vs 11.2%) and that of obesitywas higher in rich than in poor children (9.9% vs1.3%; p<0.001). A familyhistory of obesity and hypertension emerged as asignificant predictor of developing overweight andobesity (p<0.001). The datasuggest that underweight and obesity co-exist inurban areas of Bangladesh, posing a challenge forthe nutritional health of Bangladeshi children.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , March 2019 , pp. 244 - 253
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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