University Felix Houphouet-Boigny, UFR Biosciences Laboratory of Biology and Health, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
University Felix Houphouet-Boigny, UFR Biosciences Laboratory of Biology and Health, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2020 Dec;40:115-120. doi: 10.1016/j.clnesp.2020.10.006. Epub 2020 Oct 22.
Obesity is a growing scourge in Africa. More and more children are exposed to it. This study was designed to assess obesity in children enrolled in private and public primary schools in three communes in the health district of Abidjan, in the south of Côte d'Ivoire.
This study involved 1251 children enrolled in six schools due to two schools per municipality (Cocody, Yopougon and Treichville) including 587 boys and 664 girls aged 5-15 years. Children were recruited from private and public primary schools. Anthropometric parameters (Weight, Height, waist circumference, Body mass index) and blood pressure were measured. Data on eating habits were collected using a questionnaire.
Overall, 1251 children were enrolled, or 592 and 659 children in private and public primary schools, respectively. The majority of the children (54.2% [678/1251]) were of normal weight. However, 35.5%, 7.8% and 2.4% of the children were, respectively, underweight, overweight and obese. Overweight including obesity was 10.2%. Overweight and abdominal obesity were common among girls compared to boys (χ = 0.113, P = 0.001). The low obesity rate (2.4%) observed in our study is probably due to the fact that children are very active. The prevalence of hypertension in overweight people, including obese, was 20.3%. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure was influenced by both BMI and gender with higher systolic (χ = 0.142, P = 0.001) and diastolic (χ = 0.135, P = 0.001) blood pressure observed in girls.
Our study points out that in addition to a sedentary lifestyle; obesity is also linked to the socio-economic status and daily diet of children. We recommend introducing and operationalizing sports activity in the education system in order to reduce the frequency of obesity and its corollary of metabolic diseases among children.
肥胖是非洲日益严重的问题。越来越多的儿童受到肥胖的影响。本研究旨在评估科特迪瓦南部阿比让卫生区三个区的私立和公立小学的儿童肥胖情况。
本研究涉及六所学校的 1251 名儿童，每市两所学校（科霍戈、约普贡和特雷希维尔），包括 587 名男孩和 664 名女孩，年龄为 5-15 岁。儿童来自私立和公立小学。测量了身体测量参数（体重、身高、腰围、体重指数）和血压。使用问卷收集饮食习惯数据。
共有 1251 名儿童入学，其中私立和公立小学分别有 592 名和 659 名儿童。大多数儿童（54.2%[678/1251]）体重正常。然而，分别有 35.5%、7.8%和 2.4%的儿童体重不足、超重和肥胖。超重包括肥胖的比例为 10.2%。与男孩相比，女孩超重和腹部肥胖更为常见（χ2=0.113，P=0.001）。我们的研究中观察到的低肥胖率（2.4%）可能是由于儿童非常活跃。超重人群（包括肥胖者）的高血压患病率为 20.3%。收缩压和舒张压均受 BMI 和性别影响，女孩的收缩压（χ2=0.142，P=0.001）和舒张压（χ2=0.135，P=0.001）更高。
我们的研究表明，除了久坐不动的生活方式外，肥胖还与儿童的社会经济地位和日常饮食有关。我们建议在教育系统中引入和实施体育活动，以减少儿童肥胖及其代谢疾病的发生频率。
