Bureau of Health & Physical Activity and Prevention of Social Hazards, Ministry of Education & Training, Tehran, Iran.
World J Pediatr. 2010 Aug;6(3):223-7. doi: 10.1007/s12519-010-0206-z. Epub 2010 Jun 12.
For the first time, not only in Iran but also in the Eastern Mediterranean region, we report the prevalence of underweight and overweight among all children at school entry.
The current study was part of the national screening survey of all children at school entry that was conducted in all 31 provinces of Iran in 2007. Body mass index (BMI) cut-off points provided by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were used.
This cross-sectional national study was performed among 899,035 children (48.8% girls and 51.2% boys); 76.7% of them lived in urban areas. Overall, 12.7% of the children had a BMI below the age- and gender-specific 5th percentile, and with the highest prevalence in the southern provinces. In addition, 17.0% of the children had high BMI levels, i.e., 13.5% were overweight and 3.5% were obese, with the highest prevalence in the capital city as well as in the western and northwestern provinces.
Until a few years ago, childhood undernutrition has been the major nutritional problem in our community and still is the focus of nutritional policies and related medical education curriculum; however the higher prevalence of overweight other than underweight obtained in the current national survey is alarming and confirms the importance of considering childhood overweight as a health priority. This should be taken into account for all Middle Eastern countries that are expected to bear one of the world's greatest increases in the burden of chronic diseases notably diabetes in the next two decades.
这是首次在伊朗、也是在地中海东部区域报告的所有学童入学时体重过轻和超重的流行率。
本研究是在 2007 年于伊朗所有 31 个省份进行的所有学童入学的国家筛查调查的一部分。采用了美国疾病控制与预防中心提供的体质量指数（BMI）切点。
本横断面全国性研究纳入了 899035 名儿童（48.8%为女孩，51.2%为男孩）；其中 76.7%居住在城市地区。总体而言，12.7%的儿童 BMI 低于年龄和性别特异性第 5 百分位，南部省份的流行率最高。此外，17.0%的儿童 BMI 较高，即 13.5%超重，3.5%肥胖，首都以及西部和西北部省份的流行率最高。
就在几年前，儿童期营养不良一直是我们社区的主要营养问题，仍是营养政策和相关医学教育课程的重点；然而，当前全国调查中获得的超重而不是体重过轻的更高流行率令人震惊，并证实了将儿童期超重视为健康优先事项的重要性。这应该被考虑到所有中东国家，预计在未来二十年中，这些国家将承受全球慢性病负担（尤其是糖尿病）最大增长之一。
