Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

Background: Childhood obesity is one of the most serious health challenges of the 21st century. The problem is global and the prevalence is increasing at an alarming rate. Objective: To determine the prevalence and associated risk factors of overweight and obesity among primary public-school children (10-14) years old in Arkaweet, Khartoum, Sudan. Materials & Method: A descriptive cross-sectional school-based study was conducted among primary school student's males and females in Arkaweet, Khartoum, Sudan. Simple random sampling was used. The data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Height and weight of the subjects were measured and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated, using growth charts of Center of Disease and Control (CDC). Result: A total of 161 children between ages of 10 and 14 were involved in the study. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 34% and 4.97%, respectively. Females had a higher prevalence of overweight 38.3% when compared to males 30%. Obesity also was highly prevalent in females (7.4%) than in males (2.4 %) most subjects studied healthy-weight (50.9%). The mean weight is 48.1, mean height is 141.2. There was significance association between educational level of father (p value=0.000), educational level of mother (p value=0.000), job of mother (p value=o,o46), physical activities (p value=0.034), watching TV (p value=0.04) and playing video games (p value=0.000) for long hours per day, number of daily meals (p value=0.002), type of food, fast food (p value=0.032) and soft drinks consumption (p value=0.000) and family size (p value=0.003) There was obvious psychological impact among overweight and obese students, as they suffer a lot from their classmate bulling. Conclusion: The results of the current study provide alarming evidence-based data on the considerable prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity among primary public-school students in Arkaweet Khartoum, Sudan.

Biography

Huda Abbass Alhadi is a 5th year medical student of faculty of medicine at university of Khartoum. She studied research methodology as part of college curriculum. Huda Abbass worked as an author in research on childhood obesity 2017-2018 and as data collector in another research in the university 2016-2017.

E-mail: hudaabbass766@gmail.com