Overweight and Obesity in Slovak High School Students

Childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity are important public health concerns. Common definitions of paediatric overweight and obesity are based on BMI (Going et al., 2011). Slovakia is one of the few countries with national BMI standards that take into consideration dietary habits and local genotypes. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents of Presov region in Slovakia. A non-randomized cross-sectional study was used to determine incidence of obesity in adolescents living in the region of Presov. Research sample consisted of 1,015 participants (550 girls; 465 boys) aged between 15 and 18 years. BMI values in particular age groups of both genders were assessed according to Slovak National Reference Standards. Results: For both genders, mean values of body height and body weight and mean BMI values across all age categories fell between 50th and 75th percentile. In total, 6.4% of boys and 6.8% of girls were overweight, and 9.4% of boys and 8.2% of girls were obese. The highest prevalence of overweight was found for 18-year-old boys and for 17-year-old girls, and the highest prevalence of obesity was found for both 15-year-old boys and girls. The comparison of our findings with available data from National Anthropometric Survey on physical development of Slovak youth in 2001 showed lower prevalence of overweight, but higher percent prevalence of obesity in girls and boys. (C) 2016 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.uk