Abstract:
Objective To analyze the prevalence of overweight and obesity and the association of self-cognition on physique with overweight and obesity among senior high school students in Nanchang city and to compare the prevalence with the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of United States.
Methods We conducted a survey among senior high school students recruited in 5 high schools with stratified random cluster sampling in Nanchang city during June 2015. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey System Questionnaire (Chinese version) was adopted in the survey. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated and overweight and obesity were determined according to the criterion of Working Group of Obesity in China (WGOC) and International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) among the students. Difference in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among various student groups was analyzed using Chi-square test and the consistency between WGOC and IOTF criterion was assessed with Kappa (kw) value.
Results Of the 884 students surveyed, 128 were ≤ 15 years old; 385 were aged 16; and 347 were ≥ 17 years old. The male to female ratio of the students was 1:1.16. Among the students, the prevalence rate of overweight and obesity were 13.69% and 3.62% based on WGOC criterion. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that significant risk factors of overweight among the students included male gender (odds ratio OR = 4.54, P < 0.001), watching television one hour or more per day (OR = 1.91, P = 0.023), and eating fruit four or more times a week (OR = 2.09, P = 0.004).
Conclusion The prevalence of overweight and obesity is at a low level among senior high school students in Nanchang city and the biased cognition on overweigh results in unreasonable estimation of overweight or obesity among the students.