Occurrence of overweight, obesity and their associated risk factors among primary school pupils in Samarra/Iraq: a cross-sectional study

Objective: To find the prevalence of overweight and obesity and the risk factors for increasing weight among young students. Method: The cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted during the 2018-19 academic year in Samarra, Iraq, after approval from the ethics review committee of Anbar University, Al Anbar, Iraq, and comprised primary schoolchildren aged 7-13 years regardless of gender. After collecting sociodemographic data, based on body mass index values, the children were categorised into malnourished <5th percentile, normal 5-84th percentile, overweight 85-97th percentile, and obese >= 97th percentile. Data was analysed using SPSS 27. Results: Of the 450 subjects, 243(54%) were girls and 207(46%) were boys. Obesity was found in 54(12%,) subjects, while 83(18.4%) were overweight. Class grades of the schoolchildren, mothers' education, type of food taken to school, money to buy from the school canteen, consumption of soft drinks, and eating snacks were significantly related to body mass index percentile (p<0.05). Conclusion: Overweight and obesity were prevalent in school children, and a number of factors contributed to the problem, highlighting the need for health education interventions.