Prevalence of Obesity and Overweight among Adolescents of Birjand, East of Iran

Objective: The prevalence of overweight and obesity in adolescents is increasing worldwide. The main aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of obesity and overweight among adolescent students11-19 year old in Birjand, east of Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study in 2012 was conducted on 2453 students (1296 girls and 1157 boys) who had been selected through multi stage cluster sampling from Middle and High school schools of Birjand. Obesity and overweight were defined according to CDC criteria, 85-95th percentile was taken as overweight and >95th percentile was defined as obese with respect to age and sex. The obtained data was analyzed by SPSS software (V:15).T-test and chi-square were used for statistical analys is P≤0.05 was considered as the significance level. Results: 7.3% of students (8.4% of boys and 6.4% of girls) were overweight and 8.2% of students (i.e. 8.1% of boys and 8.3% of girls) were obese. Conclusion: Considering the high prevalence of obesity and overweight among adolescents of Birjand, therefore, prevention of childhood obesity is a high priority. For this purpose, it is recommended that necessary information and healthy lifestyle education should be provided to families.