Overweight and obesity among children aged 7–8: Results of the WHO project in Slovakia

Czech version

Authors: Ľ. Tichá ¹; V. Regecová ²; J. Hamade ³; K. Šebeková ⁴; Ľ. Podracká ¹
Authors‘ workplace: Detská klinika LFUK a NÚDCH, Bratislava ¹; Centrum experimentálnej medicíny, Ústav normálnej a patologickej fyziológie SAV, Bratislava ²; Úrad verejného zdravotníctva SR ³; Ústav molekulárnej biomedicíny LFUK, Bratislava ⁴
Published in: Čes-slov Pediat 2019; 74 (2): 81-87.
Category:

Overview

We assessed the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children in 8 geographical regions of Slovakia, according to the WHO Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) protocol and compared it with the data obtained within the National Anthropometric Survey 2011 as well as those from other European countries.

Subjects and methods:

In 2795 children (1402 boys, 1525 of rural residency), aged 7–7.99 years, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumference were assessed. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was evaluated according to the criteria recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO 2007) and the International Working Group on Obesity (IOTF) as well as the national standards, using the LMSGrowth 2.77.

Results:

Mean anthropometric measures were significantly higher in boys (body height and weight: p<0.001, BMI: p<0.02), exception for the hip circumference. Higher prevalence of overweight (by 3.8%) and obesity (by 2%) in boys was confirmed only if the WHO cut-points were employed. Regardless of the criteria employed, the prevalence of obesity was approximately at the average of developed European countries and reached 14.8% according to WHO and 8.8% according to IOTF criteria in boys (girls: 11.1% and 8.1%, respectively). Using national criteria (AP 2001), the prevalence of obesity was similar to that of IOTF (8.8% and 9.5%). The highest incidence of obesity was recorded in the Nitra region (12.3%, p<0.04). The prevalence of obesity in Slovak children has not changed since 2011, and has doubled since 2001.

Conclusion:

The assessment of trends and differences in the prevalence of obesity are significantly influenced by the selection criteria. National standards in Slovakia are not different from IOTF criteria for pre-pubertal children. The WHO standards significantly overestimate the prevalence of obesity in boys, not only in comparison with the Slovak standards but also with those of IOTF. The prevalence of obesity in 7-year-olds has been stabilized since 2011, independently of employed criteria.

Keywords:

children – body mass index – definitions and prevalence of overweight and obesity in Slovakia – the WHO COSI project

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