SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.27 issue6Do the Spanish university students follow Mediterranean dietary patterns?Body weight perception among adolescents in Dubai, United Arab Emirates author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Journal

Article

Indicators

Related links

  • On index processCited by Google
  • Have no similar articlesSimilars in SciELO
  • On index processSimilars in Google

Share


Nutrición Hospitalaria

On-line version ISSN 1699-5198Print version ISSN 0212-1611

Abstract

GONZALEZ-JIMENEZ, E.; GARCIA LOPEZ, P. A.  and  SCHMIDT RIO-VALLE, J.. Analysis of the nutritional state of school children in different districts of the province of Granada (Spain). Nutr. Hosp. [online]. 2012, vol.27, n.6, pp.1960-1965. ISSN 1699-5198.  https://dx.doi.org/10.3305/nh.2012.27.6.6067.

Background: In Spain the prevalence of obesity shows a north-south distribution. In the province of Granada its distribution is unknown. Objectives: (1) To study the prevalence of overweight and obesity in a sample population of school children and adolescents from different districts in the province of Granada. (2) To verify whether there are significant differences, depending on the district where the students reside. (3) To find a possible correlation between the nutritional state of the students and that of their parents. Methods: The population sample was composed of 977 school children and adolescents from 9 to 17 years of age, attending 13 public elementary schools and high schools in the city and province of Granada (Spain). In this analytical and multicentric study, the nutritional state of the subjects was evaluated by means of anthropometric measurements. Furthermore, data were collected by means of questionnaire to discover whether the respondents had a family history of overweight or obesity. Results: We found a high prevalence of overweight and obesity among the studied population. In girls, the greater prevalence of both overweight and obesity ranged from 12 to 14 years of age. In boys, there was an increase in the prevalence of overweight at twelve years of age. Regarding obesity, their rates were significantly lower than those described among girls. There were statistically significant differences for weight (F = 4,154; p = 0,003) but not for height (F = 1,928; p =0,105). But for the variable BMI was statistically significant difference (F = 5.037; P < 0.001) between the studied geographical areas. The results showed that the nutritional state of students with a family history of obesity was significantly worse (p < 0.01). Discussion: A high prevalence of obesity was found in the sample, especially among the girls. There exists a geographical distribution pattern, possibly derived from the socioeconomic characteristics of each area in the province. The existence of a family history of obesity is an important factor that can determine whether the child will also become obese in the future.

Keywords : School children; Obesity; Geographic distribution; Parental obesity.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )

 

Creative Commons License All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License