The prevalence of abdominal obesity is remarkable for underweightand normal weight adolescent girls*

Abstract

IntroductionChildhood obesity is a global public health challenge. Consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages, sedentary lifestyles, and increasing urbanization lead to increased childhood obesity in developing and developed countries (1). Obesity prevalence is rapidly increasing among children and adolescents. Childhood overweight and obesity rates rose from 4.2% in 1990 to 6.7% in 2010 worldwide (2). The percentage of adolescents aged 12-19 years who were obese increased from 5% in 1980 to nearly 21% in 2012 in the United States (3). In Turkey the National Nutrition and Health Survey -2010 reported that the total percentage of overweight was 27.3% and the total percentage of obesity was 18.5% in adolescents of both sexes aged between 12 and 18 years (4).Overweight and obese children are prone to be obese in adulthood and to the development of diet-induced chronic diseases (5). Studies showed that the risk of adult obesity for obese children was higher than in nonobese children (5,6). In particular, abdominal obesity causes a wide range of serious complications such as cardiovascular disease ( 7), insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus (8), metabolic syndrome (9), and different types of cancers (10) in childhood and adolescence.Body mass index (BMI) provides general information about obesity status. However, it is not sufficient for evaluation of the distribution of body fat. Increased upper body fat is indicative of visceral adiposity (11,12), which is recognized as a risk factor for many diseases (7-10). Waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) are sensitive and specific measurements both total and intraabdominal body fat (12,13). Increased WC is an important descriptor for the risk of diet-related chronic diseases (4). Moreover, WHtR is a simple, age-and sex-Background/aim: Obesity is a global public health challenge. This study was carried out in order to determine the prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity in Turkish adolescent girls. Materials and methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted in a total of 1111 adolescent girls aged 12-18 years. The subjects were classified into four groups: underweight, normal, overweight, and obese. Abdominal obesity was defined according to waist circumference (WC) ≥ 90th percentile for Turkish adolescent population references (12-17 years) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) ≥ 0.5. Results:The prevalence of underweight was 17.4%, normal weight 68.5%, overweight 12.1%, and obese 2.0%. A total of 16.9% subjects were abdominal obese based on WC and 10.4% based on WHtR. When the four groups were evaluated in terms of abdominal obesity status, prevalence was 6.4% and 2.6% in the underweight, 14.6% and 5.8% in the normal, 60.0% and 37.3% in the overweight, and 88.8% and 77.3% in the obese groups according to WC and WHtR, respectively. Both WC (r: 0.332) and WHtR (r: 0.156) were positively correlated with age (P < 0.05). Conclusion:The prevalence of abdominal obesity was found at high levels for overweight and obese adolescents. It should be emphasi...

Risk Factors and Prevalence of Abdominal Obesity among Upper-Secondary Students

“…Abdominal obesity was identified in 15.5% (WC), 10.7% (WHtR) and 21.7% (WHR) of the examined students. Similarly, in a Turkish adolescent girls’ population (12–18 years), abdominal obesity (WC ≥ 90th percentile and WHtR ≥ 0.5) was found in 16.9% (WC) and 10.4% (WHtR) of subjects [11]. In the light of the results, abdominal obesity assessed according to WC was more frequent in the oldest age group (18 years and older)—23.5%.…”

“…Worldwide data from research of children and adolescents show that abdominal obesity is an important public health problem. In a Turkish adolescent population abdominal obesity was prevalent in overweight group according to WC and WHtR, as well as in the obese groups [11]. Anthropometric data of Brazilian schoolchildren from the period of 2000–2015 showed that WC and the prevalence of abdominal obesity significantly increased, regardless of gender [12].…”