Markidou Eliza, Economidou Eleftheria C, Avraam Demetris, Hassapidou Maria, Hadjiminas John Minas, Soteriades Elpidoforos S
Department of Dietetics, Ministry of Health, 1448 Nicosia, Cyprus.
Department of Pediatrics, Larnaca General Hospital, 6043 Larnaca, Cyprus.
Nutrients. 2025 Mar 30;17(7):1213. doi: 10.3390/nu17071213.
: A worldwide epidemic of overweight and obesity is an ongoing global health concern. This rise in overweight and obesity among children contributes to the increasing pattern of current and future physiological and psychological problems. Our study aimed at examining overweight and obesity among elementary school children in Cyprus. : Data on children's age, sex, place of residence (urban/rural) and weight/height status were collected using the WHO Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) in Cyprus, using standardized measurements of children aged 6-9 years enrolled in the first and fourth class of elementary schools during the academic year 2021-2022. We describe the prevalence and distribution of overweight and obesity, while we also compare the findings with previous rounds of the COSI program. A total of 1662 children were evaluated (830 boys and 832 girls, 952 from the first and 710 from the fourth class, and 1303 from urban and 369 from rural areas). The study showed 335 children with overweight (20.1%) and 275 with obesity (16.5%). Both overweight [158 (22.2%, 95% CI: 19.2-25.5%)] and obesity [149 (21.0%, 95% CI: 18.1-24.2%)] was significantly higher in children aged 8-9 years of age compared to younger children (6-7 years) ( < 0.0001) and was also higher in boys compared to girls ( = 0.0007). No difference was seen by place of residence or round of examination. Our study confirmed that both overweight and obesity remain at high levels over the past decade in both boys and girls in Cyprus.
全球范围内的超重和肥胖流行是一个持续存在的全球健康问题。儿童超重和肥胖现象的增加导致了当前及未来生理和心理问题的不断增多。我们的研究旨在调查塞浦路斯小学生的超重和肥胖情况。：使用世界卫生组织儿童肥胖监测倡议（COSI）在塞浦路斯收集了有关儿童年龄、性别、居住地点（城市/农村）以及体重/身高状况的数据，采用标准化测量方法，对2021 - 2022学年就读于小学一年级和四年级的6 - 9岁儿童进行了调查。我们描述了超重和肥胖的患病率及分布情况，同时还将研究结果与COSI项目的前几轮数据进行了比较。总共评估了1662名儿童（830名男孩和832名女孩，952名来自一年级，710名来自四年级，1303名来自城市地区，369名来自农村地区）。研究显示，有335名儿童超重（20.1%），275名儿童肥胖（16.5%）。8 - 9岁儿童的超重[158名（22.2%，95%置信区间：19.2 - 25.5%）]和肥胖[149名（21.0%，95%置信区间：18.1 - 24.2%）]比例均显著高于年龄较小的儿童（6 - 7岁）（<0.0001），且男孩的超重和肥胖比例也高于女孩（=0.0007）。居住地点或检查轮次方面未发现差异。我们的研究证实，在过去十年中，塞浦路斯的男孩和女孩超重和肥胖水平均居高不下。
