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Overweight and obesity prevalence among upper Egypt primary schools' children using Egyptian and CDC growth charts

Research Authors
Naglaa S Abd El-aty, Safaa R Osman, Eman S Ahmed, Marzoka A GadAllah
Research Department
Research Journal
Applied Nursing Research
Research Member
Research Publisher
Elseiver
Research Rank
1
Research Vol
56
Research Website
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2020.151346
Research Year
2020
Research_Pages
151346
Research Abstract

Background

Monitoring of overweight and obesity among children; by using different growth charts; is fundamental to disease prevention and health promotion.
Aim of the study

To determine overweight and obesity for age among primary school children in Upper Egypt using the Egyptian and CDC growth charts.
Subjects and methods

Cross-sectional research design was used and conducted at 20 public primary schools in four Upper Egypt governorates. The sample size was 5300 children who selected by multistage sampling technique. Interview questionnaire included personal data and anthropometric measurements (height, Weight and BMI) and Egyptian and CDC growth charts.
Results

The percentages of children being overweight and obese for age using Egyptian chart were low compared to CDC charts (1.9 vs 4.6%, 8.5% vs. 3.3%, 8.7% vs 3.3% respectively). According to Egyptian chart 5.2% and 5% from total studied boys and girls were overweight and obese respectively, while in CDC growth chart 13.3% and 10.5% from total studied boys and girls respectively.
Conclusion

It concluded that there were remarkable differences between CDC and Egyptian growth charts references in the classification of child overweight and obesity. The CDC growth chart evident much higher prevalence among the studied children compared to the Egyptian growth chart.
Recommendation

Periodic development and reconstruction of national growth chart to represent the growth pattern of all geographical areas in Egypt. Also, further researches needed to assess the differences of both international and national references.