Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Feb 20;11(1):76-81.
doi: 10.4274/jcrpe.galenos.2018.2018.0108. Epub 2018 Sep 25.

Remarkable Increase in the Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among School Age Children in Antalya, Turkey, Between 2003 and 2015

Gamze Çelmeli  1 , Yusuf Çürek  1 , Zümrüt Arslan Gülten  2 , Mehmet Yardımsever  3 , Mustafa Koyun  2 , Sema Akçurin  4 , İffet Bircan  4
Affiliations

Remarkable Increase in the Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among School Age Children in Antalya, Turkey, Between 2003 and 2015

Gamze Çelmeli et al. J Clin Res Pediatr Endocrinol. .

Abstract

Objective: Childhood obesity (OB) is an acknowledged global problem with increasing prevalence reported around the world. We conducted this study with the aim of determining the local trend in OB and overweight (OW) prevalence in the last decade and to observe the alteration of OB and OW prevalence by age group. An additional aim was to construct new age- and gender-specific body mass index (BMI) reference percentile charts for Turkish children living in the city center of Antalya.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 1687 school aged children. International Obesity Task Force guidelines were used to determine the OB and OW prevalence. OW was defined as a BMI between 85th and 95th percentile, and OB >95th percentile. The data were compared with a previous study carried out in the same region in 2003. The least mean square method was used to construct the BMI reference percentile charts.

Results: The prevalence rates for OB and OW were 9.8% and 23.2%, respectively, with a combined OW/OB rate of 33%. OB prevalence was higher in boys than girls (p<0.05). The prevalence of combined OW/OB was highest at age 9-10 years. The prevalence of OB has increased 2.9 times during twelve years in this location.

Conclusion: Comparing the current findings with rates of OW and OB in the previous decade, childhood OB in Antalya has reached alarming levels. Urgent measures integrated into the national education system should be taken to prevent OB. In addition more surveillance studies should be planned to show the future trend of OB prevalence nationally.

Keywords: prevalence; Obesity; school age children; Turkey.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The prevalence of obesity and overweight combining both genders in by age group, in Antalya, Turkey
Figure 2
Figure 2
The prevalence of obesity and overweight among girls and boys by age group in Antalya, Turkey
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wang Y, Lobstein T. Worldwide trends in childhood overweight and obesity. Int J Pediatr Obes. 2006;1:11–25. - PubMed
    1. Ng M, Fleming T, Robinson M, Thomson B, Graetz N, Margono C, Mullany EC, Biryukov S, Abbafati C, Abera SF, Abraham JP, Abu-Rmeileh NM, Achoki T, AlBuhairan FS, Alemu ZA, Alfonso R, Ali MK, Ali R, Guzman NA, Ammar W, Anwari P, Banerjee A, Barquera S, Basu S, Bennett DA, Bhutta Z, Blore J, Cabral N, Nonato IC, Chang JC, Chowdhury R, Courville KJ, Criqui MH, Cundiff DK, Dabhadkar KC, Dandona L, Davis A, Dayama A, Dharmaratne SD, Ding EL, Durrani AM, Esteghamati A, Farzadfar F, Fay DF, Feigin VL, Flaxman A, Forouzanfar MH, Goto A, Green MA, Gupta R, Hafezi-Nejad N, Hankey GJ, Harewood HC, Havmoeller R, Hay S, Hernandez L, Husseini A, Idrisov BT, Ikeda N, Islami F, Jahangir E, Jassal SK, Jee SH, Jeffreys M, Jonas JB, Kabagambe EK, Khalifa SE, Kengne AP, Khader YS, Khang YH, Kim D, Kimokoti RW, Kinge JM, Kokubo Y, Kosen S, Kwan G, Lai T, Leinsalu M, Li Y, Liang X, Liu S, Logroscino G, Lotufo PA, Lu Y, Ma J, Mainoo NK, Mensah GA, Merriman TR, Mokdad AH, Moschandreas J, Naghavi M, Naheed A, Nand D, Narayan KM, Nelson EL, Neuhouser ML, Nisar MI, Ohkubo T, Oti SO, Pedroza A, Prabhakaran D, Roy N, Sampson U, Seo H, Sepanlou SG, Shibuya K, Shiri R, Shiue I, Singh GM, Singh JA, Skirbekk V, Stapelberg NJ, Sturua L, Sykes BL, Tobias M, Tran BX, Trasande L, Toyoshima H, van de Vijver S, Vasankari TJ, Veerman JL, Velasquez-Melendez G, Vlassov VV, Vollset SE, Vos T, Wang C, Wang X, Weiderpass E, Werdecker A, Wright JL, Yang YC, Yatsuya H, Yoon J, Yoon SJ, Zhao Y, Zhou M, Zhu S, Lopez AD, Murray CJ, Gakidou E. Global regional and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980-2013: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Lancet. 2014;384:766–781. - PMC - PubMed
    1. NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128·9 million children, adolescents, and adults. Lancet. 2017;390:2627–2642. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alper Z, Ercan İ, Uncu Y. A Meta-Analysis and the Evaluation of Trends in Obesity Prevalence among Children and Adolescents aged 5-19 in Turkey: 1990 through 2015. J Clin Res Pediatr Endocrinol. 2018;10:59–67. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bereket A, Atay Z. Current status of childhood obesity and its associated morbidities in Turkey. J Clin Res Pediatr Endocrinol. 2012;4:1–7. - PMC - PubMed