Objective: Overweight has become a public health problem in most developing countries. Evidence suggests that adolescence is a critical period in determining adulthood obesity and its complications. The present study was carried out to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity among secondary school students. Design and setting: This descriptive study was conducted in Tehran city, 2000-2001. Body weight and height were measured and body mass index (BMI) values were calculated. Underweight, overweight and obesity were defined as ,5th, $ 85th and $ 95th percentile, respectively, of age-and sex-specific BMI values from the National Center for Health Statistics/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2000). Subjects: Using a multistage sampling method, 2321 students (1068 males and 1253 females) aged 11-16 years were assessed in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. Results: The overall prevalences of overweight and obesity were 21.1 and 7.8%, respectively. The prevalence of overweight among girl students (i.e. 23.1%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 20.8-25.4) was significantly higher than that among boys (i.e. 18.8%; 95% CI 16.5-21.1, P ¼ 0.01) even after adjustment for age (odds ratio 1.26, 95% CI 1.03-1.55, P ¼ 0.02). No significant risk of obesity associated with age was found in girls or boys. In both sexes, median values of age-specific BMI in this study were statistically higher than corresponding values collected in Tehrani adolescents 10 years ago (P ¼ 0.03). Similarly, a significant difference was seen between girl students in this study and the reference population (P ¼ 0.03). Conclusion: According to this study, overweight, especially in girls, should be considered an epidemic health problem among adolescent students in Tehran.
Recent descriptive studies suggest that Iran has geared in the nutrition and epidemiological transition processes. Therefore, while the problems of undernutrition (e.g. growth retardation and micronutrient deficiencies) still exist, the burden of overweight/obesity and diet-related chronic diseases is increasing. The prevalence of overweight (body mass index > or = 85th reference percentiles) among urban 15-39 and 40-69 year olds is estimated at about 22% and 40% respectively. Corresponding values in rural areas are 16% and 26%. The transition seems faster among female population at national level. There are however, great differences between different provinces. Urgent preventive strategies are needed to simultaneously tackle both forms of malnutrition in the country.
Objectives: This study aimed to examine the relationship between total pregnancy weight gain, maternal educational level, working status and infant birth weight among mothers and infants in urban health centers in Rasht, Iran. Design: Pregnant women from six different public health centers in urban areas were studied in a prospective design. Data on women's age, parity, level of education, working status, infant birth weight, mothers' height, and prepregnancy weight and total weight gain during pregnancy were collected. The subjects were grouped based on their prepregnancy BMI and according to Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendation for total pregnancy weight gain. The subjects were also categorized based on their years of schooling as less, intermediately and highly educated. In this study women were considered as either housewives or employed. Setting: Public health centers in urban areas in Rasht, Iran. Subjects: A total of 1914 pregnant women were studied. Results: These data showed that pregnancy weight gain was not different between women with normal prepregnancy weight and underweight when educational levels and working status were taken into account. Besides, pregnancy weight gain was positively related to the level of education. Analysis of variance showed that infant birth weights were not similar in mothers who gain weight less, within and above recommended ranges. In all, 60% of the normal weight women and 56.7% of the underweight women had weight gain less than the lower cutoffs of IOM recommendation. Results of logistic regression analysis showed that low level of mother's education was the only predictor for low birth weight (LBW) (412 y education OR ¼ 0.27(0.10-0.69)) and 5-12 y education OR ¼ 0.62 (0.2-0.94). Conclusion: These results showed that pregnancy weight gain lower recommended ranges are highly prevalent in Iranian women in public health centers in urban areas in Rasht. Moreover, mother's level of educational level may be considered as the most important determinant of birth weight and LBW in this population.
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