Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-5bvrz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-10T08:05:24.000Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bhuiyan, M. U., Zaman, S. & Ahmed, T. (2013) Risk factors associated with overweight and obesity among urban school children and adolescents in Bangladesh: a case-control study. BMC Pediatrics 13, 72.Google Scholar
Chhatwal, J., Verma, M. & Riar, S. K. (2004) Obesity among pre-adolescents of a developing country (India). Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 13, 231–235.Google Scholar
Després, J. P., Lemieux, I. & Prud’homme, D. (2001) Treatment of obesity: need to focus on high risk abdominally obese patients. British Medical Journal 322, 716–720.Google Scholar
Deurenberg, P., Yap, M. & van Staveren, W. A. (1998) Body mass index and percent body fat: a meta analysis among different ethnic groups. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders 22, 1164–1171.Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (2006) The double burden of malnutrition case studies from six developing countries. FAO Food and Nutrition Paper, Rome, No. 84.Google Scholar
Goyal, R. K., Shah, V. N., Saboo, B. D., Phatak, S. R., Shah, N. N., Gohel, M. C. et al. (2010) Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Indian adolescent school going children: its relationship with socioeconomic status and associated lifestyle factors. Journal of the Association of Physicians of India 58, 151–157.Google Scholar
Kain, J., Uauy, R., Vio, F. & Albala, C. (2002) Trends in overweight and obesity prevalence in Chilean children: comparison of three definitions. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 56, 200–204.Google Scholar
Khadikar, V. V. & Khadikar, A. A. (2004) Prevalence of obesity in affluent school boys in Pune. Indian Paediatrics 41, 857–858.Google Scholar
Kim, E., Hwang, J. Y., Woo, E. K., Kim, S. S., Jo, S. A. & Jo, I. (2005) Body mass index cutoffs for underweight, overweight and obesity in South Korean Schoolgirls. Obesity 13(9), 1510–1514.Google Scholar
King, H., Fitch, C., Collins, C., Koki, G., King, L. F. & Heywood, P. (1989) Glucose tolerance in Papua New Guinea: ethnic difference associated with environmental and behavioral factors and the possible emergence of glucose intolerance in highland community. Medical Journal of Australia 151, 204–210.Google Scholar
Kinra, S., Nelder, R. P. & Lewendon, G. J. (2000) Deprivation and childhood obesity: a cross sectional study of 20 973 children in Plymouth, United Kingdom. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 54(6), 456–460.Google Scholar
Kissebah, A. H., Freedman, D. S. & Peiris, A. N. (1989) Health risks of obesity. Medical Clinics of North America 73(1), 111–138.Google Scholar
Kuczmarski, R. J., Ogden, C. L., Grummer-Strawn, L. M., Flegal, K. M., Guo, S. S., Wei, R. et al. (2000) CDC Growth Charts: United States. National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD.Google Scholar
Lusky, A., Lubin, F., Barell, V., Kaplan, G., Layani, V., Lev, B. & Wiener, M. (2000) Body mass index in 17-year-old Israeli males of different ethnic backgrounds; national or ethnic-specific references? International Journal of Obesity and Related Disorders 24(1), 88–92.Google Scholar
Miller, G. E., Chen, E., Fok, A. K., Walker, H., Lim, A., Nicholls, E. F. et al. (2009) Low early-life social class leaves a biological residue manifested by decreased glucocorticoid and increased proinflammatory signaling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 106(34), 14716–14721.Google Scholar
Mo-suwan, L., Junjana, C. & Puetpaiboon, A. (1993) Increasing obesity in school children in a transitional society and the effect of the weight control program. Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine Public Health 24(3), 590–594.Google Scholar
Must, A., Jacques, P. F., Dallal, G. E., Bajema, C. J. & Dietz, W. H. (1992) Long-term morbidity and mortality of overweight adolescents: a follow-up of the Harvard Growth Study of 1922 to 1935. New England Journal of Medicine 327, 1350–1355.Google Scholar
Popkin, B. (2003) The nutrition transition in the developing world. Development Policy Review 21(5–6), 581–597.Google Scholar
Qamra, S. R., Mehta, S. & Deodhar, S. D. (1991) A mixed-longitudinal study on the pattern of pubertal growth: relationship to socioeconomic status and caloric-intake – IV. Indian Pediatrics 28(2), 147–156.Google Scholar
Rahmani-Nia, F., Rahnama, N. & Bambaeichi, E. (2008) Prevalence of overweight and underweight among Iranian high-school students. International Journal of Sports Science and Engineering 2(2), 101–106.Google Scholar
Ramachandran, A., Snehalatha, C., Vinitha, R., Thayyil, M., Kumar, C. K., Sheeba, L. et al. (2002) Prevalence of overweight in urban Indian adolescent school children. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice 57(3), 185–190.Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, M., Leibel, R. & Hirsch, J. (1997) Obesity. New England Journal of Medicine 337(6), 396–407.Google Scholar
Sawaya, A. L., Sesso, R., DeMenezes, T. M., Florencio, T., Fernandes, M. T. B. & Martins, P. A. (2005) Association between chronic under nutrition hypertension. Maternal & Child Nutrition 1(3), 155–163.Google Scholar
Sayeed, M. A., Rhaman, M. M., Banu, A. & Mahtab, H. (2012) Undernutrition and adiposity in children and adolescents: a nutrition paradox in Banglaedsh. Ibrahim Medical College Journal 6(1), 1–8.Google Scholar
Silventoinen, K., Sans, S., Tolonen, H., Monterde, D., Kuulasmaa, K., Kesteloot, H. & Tuomilehto, J. (2004) WHO MONICA project: trends in obesity and energy supply in the WHO MONICA project. International Journal of Obesity Related Metabolic Disorders 28(5), 710–718.Google Scholar
Sinha, R., Fisch, G. & Teague, B. (2002) Prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance among children and adolescents with marked obesity. New England Journal of Medicine 346, 802–810.Google Scholar
Styne, D. M. (2001) Childhood and adolescent obesity prevalence and significance. Paediatric Clinics of North America 48(4), 823–854.Google Scholar
Taylor, S. J. C., Viner, R., Booy, R., Head, J., Tate, H., Brentnall, S. L. et al. (2005) Ethnicity, socio-economic status, overweight and underweight in East London adolescents. Ethnicity & Health 10(2), 113–128.Google Scholar
Trowbridge, F. L., Marks, J. S., Romana, G. L. D., Madrid, S., Boutton, T. W. & Klein, P. D. (1987) Body composition of Peruvian children with short stature and high weight-for-height. II. Implications for the interpretation for weight for height as an indicator of nutritional status. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 46(3), 411–418.Google Scholar
Wang, Y. & Lobstein, T. (2006) Worldwide trends in childhood overweight and obesity. International Journal of Pediatrics Obesity 1, 11–25.Google Scholar
Wang, Y., Monteiro, C. & Popkin, B. M. (2002) Trends of obesity and underweight in older children and adolescents in the United States, Brazil, China, and Russia. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 75, 971–977.Google Scholar
Weiss, R., Dziura, J., Burgert, T. S., Tamborlane, W. V., Taksali, S. E., Yeckel, C. W. et al. (2004) Obesity and metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents. New England Journal of Medicine 350, 2362–2374.Google Scholar
WHO (2002) The World Health Report: Reducing Risks, Promoting Healthy Life. World Health Organization, Geneva.Google Scholar
Wickramasinghe, V. P., Lamabadusuriya, S. P., Atapattu, N., Sathyadas, G., Kuruparanantha, S. & Karunarathne, P. (2004) Nutritional status of school children in an urban area of Sri Lanka. Ceylon Medical Journal 49(4), 114–118.Google Scholar