Prevalence and related factors of obesity among the high school students of Jahrom city, southern Iran 2014

Introduction: Obesity is recognized as one of the major problems threatens health of the modern societies. Obesity as abnormal growth of fat in the body organs is related to the various factors such as heredity, nutritional habits, and many other physiological and demographical characteristics. This study investigates the prevalence of obesity and its related factors among the high school students of Jahrom city in southern Iran. Methods: In this study we included 992 students of Jahrom high schools. In order to measuring the obesity we used body mass index and other anthropometric indices. Also some demographic information gathered by checklist. One way ANOVA used for comparison of mean of obesity scores between different groups. Chi-squire test was used for comparison of percent of obesity between different groups. Results: Findings of ANOVA test indicated that students with the history of obesity had the higher percent of body fat and body mass index (p<0.05). Also findings of ANOVA and Duncan test revealed that percent of body fat and body mass index is higher among the students which their mother had the higher education level (p<0.05). Conclusion: Findings of this study in line with other studies in Iran indicated that prevalence of obesity among the students is relatively high. Further studies on factors related to the prevalence of obesity can provides some evidences about target populations for implementing proper preventive and therapeutic programs.