Prevalence of overweight and obesity in schoolchildren of a rural Colombian community

Abstract

Introduction: The National Survey of the Nutritional Situation in Colombia does not establish the nutritional state of entire population living in the rural area of 32 departments that constitute the political division of Colombia. The purpose of this study was to assess the trends of nutritional status in school community in some rural and remote areas of Cauca department in the South of Colombia with emphasis on excess of weight.

Material and Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study of 6,664 schoolchildren of both genders, between 4 and 19 years of age from 12 schools was performed. Height and weight measurements were used to calculate body mass index and the prevalence of overweight and obesity were defined based on internationally accepted cut-off points. Gender, age, ethnicity and municipality were evaluated as factors associated to excess weight according to body mass index.

Results: The mean of age was 13.2±2.9 years; 52.0% males and 48.0% aboriginal schoolchildren. School population was greater in the south and east of Cauca. Regarding nutritional status, almost 4.0% of students were in excess weight being significantly predominant the obesity in females. 55.2% of schoolchildren present normal values of body mass index.

Conclusions: Low prevalence of overweight (3.3%) and obesity (0.3%) were correlated to adolescent students from South and Eastern Cauca. Although the rural schoolchildren obesity prevalence is low, the findings suggest implying proper and prompt interventions from alliances of national and global organizations in order to avoid immediate solutions that may promote the current nutritional status.