OBJECTIVE: To assess the ability of simple de®nitions of BMI to successfully screen for children with high body fatness. DESIGN: We determined the sensitivity and speci®city of the body mass index (BMI) by testing its ability to correctly identify children with high body fat percentage. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analyses were carried out using the top 5% of body fat percentage to de®ne children as obese (true positives). SUBJECTS: Representative sample of 4175 7 y-old (88 ± 92 month-old) children (2120 boys; 2055 girls) participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ALSPAC). RESULTS: The current obesity de®nition based on BMI (95th centile) had moderately high sensitivity (88%) and high speci®city (94%). Sensitivity and speci®city did not differ signi®cantly between boys and girls. The ROC analysis showed that lower cut-offs applied to the BMI improved sensitivity with no marked loss of speci®city: the optimum combination of sensitivity (92%) and speci®city (92%) was at a BMI cut-off equivalent to the 92nd centile. Sensitivity of BMI using the new International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cut-off for obesity was much lower, and differed signi®cantly (P`0.001) between boys (46%) and girls (72%). CONCLUSIONS: Screening for childhood obesity using the BMI is speci®c, and can have moderately high sensitivity if an appropriate cut-off is chosen. New recommendations based on the IOTF approach to de®ning childhood obesity are associated with lower sensitivity, and sensitivity differs between boys and girls.

Objective: The present study was designed to determine household food security status and factors associated with food insecurity among high-school students in Esfahan, Iran. Design: Cross-sectional surveys. Setting: The present study was conducted in autumn 2008 in Esfahan, Iran. The samples were selected using systematic cluster sampling. Socio-economic questionnaires, food security questionnaires and FFQ were filled out during face-to-face interviews. In addition, data on participants' weights and heights were collected. Subjects: A total of 580 students (261 boys and 319 girls) aged 14-17 years from forty high schools in Esfahan, Iran, were selected. Results: The prevalence of household food insecurity according to the US Department of Agriculture food security questionnaire was 36?6 % (95 % CI 0?33, 0?40). Food insecurity was positively associated with number of members in the household (P , 0?05) and negatively associated with parental education level and job status and household economic status (P , 0?05). Moreover, students living in food-insecure households more frequently consumed bread, macaroni, potato and egg (P , 0?05), while they less frequently consumed rice, red meat, sausage and hamburger, poultry, fish, green vegetables, root and bulb (coloured) vegetables, melons, apples and oranges, milk and yoghurt (P , 0?05). Conclusions: Food insecurity was prevalent among households in Esfahan, Iran, and food security status was associated with socio-economic factors. Students who belonged to food-secure households more frequently consumed healthy foods (except sausage and hamburger), whereas those living in food-insecure households more frequently consumed cheap foods containing high energy per kilogram. The present study suggests that intervention programmes be designed and carried out. Keywords Food securityEsfahan High-school students USDAThe concept of food security includes problems with the quantity of available food, uncertainty about food supply and experience of hunger in life (1,2) . Food insecurity is prevalent in both developed and developing countries, affecting 6-73 % of the general population (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16) . It has considerable health impacts on the physical, social and psychological status of individuals suffering from food insecurity. It also affects quality of life (17) . Various techniques and methods have been used to measure food insecurity in many countries (18)(19)(20) .The aim of the present study was to determine household food security status and factors associated with food insecurity among high-school students in Esfahan, Iran. Methods Data collection and subjectsThis cross-sectional study was conducted in autumn 2008 with 580 students (261 boys and 319 girls) from forty high schools in Esfahan. The average age of students was 15?7 years (range: 14-17 years), and the exclusion criterion was suffering from metabolic disease. The sampling method used in the present study was systemic clustering. Selection of schools and classes was ca...

No abstract

Body size dissatisfaction has been documented as a risk factor for obesity, but little is known about the effect of body size dissatisfaction on excessive gestational weight gain. The objective of the study was to determine the association of pre-pregnancy body size dissatisfaction with excessive gestational weight gain in Iranian pregnant women. This case-control study compared pre-gravid body satisfaction status in 182 women with excessive gestational weight gain and 180 women who gained weight within the guidelines of the Institute of Medicine. All the participants of the study were 35-41 weeks gestational age and received prenatal care in Shahid Akbarabadi Hospital. The women were asked to think back to their pre-pregnant state and report their body size satisfaction status measured by the Body Image Assessment for Obesity (BIA-O). According to this measurement, the women were divided into three categories: dissatisfied women with a thinner body size preference, dissatisfied women with a heavier body size preference and satisfied women. Among women with excessive gestational weight gain, 56.6% preferred a thinner body size, while 53.9% of those with adequate gestational weight gain were satisfied with their pre-gravid body sizes. After adjusting for cofounders, those with a thinner body size preference were more likely to gain weight excessively during pregnancy when compared to satisfied women (OR: 2.17, 95% CI: 1.17-4.02). Our result showed that thinner body size preference was associated with excessive gestational weight gain. Further studies are needed to investigate whether changes in women's feelings about their body sizes will decrease the proportion of women with excessive gestational weight gain.

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia is a syndrome characterized by progressive and generalized loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength. It imposes significant costs on health care systems. Socioeconomic status is also the root cause of healthy challenges among the elderly. Therefore, investigating the association between sarcopenia and socioeconomic status is very important to improve healthy ageing of the elderly. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of sarcopenia and its association with socioeconomic status among the elderly in Tehran. METHODS: Cross-sectional and case-control studies were conducted from August 2014−July 2015 among 310 men and 334 women elderly (60 and over years old) in Tehran health centers. Randomization, restriction and matching were setting during study design to minimize selection bias. Then study participants were recruited via phone call. Participants' phone numbers were already recorded in a telephone book electronically. When there were two elderly people in the same house, only one person was invited randomly. Association between sarcopenia and socio-economic status was analyzed by SPSS version 22. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of sarcopenia in the elderly was 16.5%. Prevalenceamong the lowincome elderly was relatively higher than (20.5%) that among those with middle income status (18.2%) while in the higher income, the proportion of sarcopenia was very low (12.8%). The findings indicated that 339(52.6%) were in low-income status, 304(47.1%) were in middle-income status and 1(.2%) in high-income class. CONCLUSION: There was a significant association between socioeconomic status and sarcopenia (Pvalue <0.001). The odd risk of sarcopenia was 0.97 times more likely higher in low socioeconomic class than those who were in middle and high income classes.