Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence and factors associated with childhood and adolescent obesity in Jeju city.
Method: The survey was performed with 2,590 students (746 4th grade students from elementary schools, 1,070 Ist grade students from middle schools, 774 lst grade students from high schools) of Jeju city on June, 2000.
The body mass index (BMI) was calculated from measured height and weight and also examined the degree of obesity by comparing with standard weight. we defined obesity as more than 20% above the standard weight for height.
Result: The prevalence of childhood obesity that exceeded the standard weight for height by more than 20% was 16.19o, showing higher rate in boys than in girls. The prevalence of adolescent obesity was 11.89% of mdddle school students and 11.0% of high school students respectively.BP and hemoglobin level of the students were within normal limit, however, cholesterol level was higher than general standard. Especially the level of the adolescent female obese group was more than 190mg/dℓ. In regard to parents´ income, there was no significant difference between the obese group and non-obese group. The birth weight of obese group was higher than non-obese group but correlation coefficient was low level.
Students´ BMI at the 1st and 2nd grade elementary schools was highly related to present BMI, there was significant difference (P<0.001) statistically.
When the parental BMI was compared the present BMI of the participants, participants´BMI correlated more closely fathers´ BMI thin their mothers´, This study found that the obese group had a higher intake of meat and a lower intake of vegetables than the non-obese group.
Conclusion: As the prevalence of childhood and adolescent goes up gradually, more effective programs to prevent obesity should be developed. Also the parents should be educated about the medical problems of obesity exactly. In addition, underweight problem is serious, so we should be concerned about underweight students as well.
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