Research Article
Socio-behavioral Determinants of Overweight and Obesity in Egyptian Primary School Children
Azza Ali Taha* and Hala Mohammed MarawanDepartment of Public Health, Menoufia University, Egypt
- *Corresponding Author:
- Azza Ali Taha
Department of Public Health
Menoufia University,Egypt
Tel: 0534929446
E-mail: azzaali55555@gmail.com
Received Date: July 05, 2015 Accepted Date: August 28, 2015 Published Date: September 03, 2015
Citation: Taha AA, Marawan HM (2015) Socio-behavioral Determinants of Overweight and Obesity in Egyptian Primary School Children. J Child Adolesc Behav 3:236. doi:10.4172/2375-4494.1000236
Copyright: © 2015 Taha AA, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Objectives: This study was conducted to assess socio-behavioral factors of overweight and obesity in primary Egyptian school children such as: residence, type of school, parent education, and dietary behaviors. Methods: The study was cross sectional and was conducted from May 2013 to August 2014 in Menoufia governorate in Egypt. 354 children aged 8-12 years brought consent from parents to participate and were enrolled in the study. The BMI percentile for students was calculated using a percentile online calculator. Results: The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity was 23.7% and 19.5% respectively. The most important predictors to overweight and obesity in the students were eating restaurant food at least twice weekly, TV watching more than 2 hours per day, mother and pocket money. Conclusion: Values for overweight and obesity in our study have approached the developed world high values. The most important risk factors for obesity and overweight in the developing societies that should be targeted by policy makers are restaurant foods, TV watching, mother employment and pocket money.
