Weight disorders and anthropometric indices according to socioeconomic status of living place in Iranian children and adolescents: The CASPIAN-IV study

Abstract

Background: Excess weight in children and adolescents is a multi-factorial phenomenon and associated with earlier risk of obesityrelated diseases. This study aims to assess the prevalence of weight disorders and the mean values of anthropometric indices according to regional, socioeconomic, and urban-rural variations among Iranian children and adolescents. Materials and Methods: This nationwide study was performed in 2011-2012 among a representative multi-stage cluster sample of 14,880 Iranian students aged 6-8 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) reference curves were used to define weight disorders. Abdominal obesity was defined as the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) of more than 0.5. Iran was classifi ed into four regions according to the socioeconomic
status (SES). Results: The mean (95% confidence interval) of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference(HC) was 18.8 (18.7, 18.9) kg/m2, 67.0 (66.7, 67.3) cm, and 80.8 (80.3, 81.2) cm, respectively. The prevalence of underweight was 12.2%. A total of 9.7%, 11.9%, and 19.1% of students overweight, obese, and abdominally obese, respectively. The highest mean of BMI, WC, wrist circumference, HC, and WHtR were related to the second high SES (North-northeast) area (19.2 [18.8, 19.5], 68.3 [67.3, 69.4], 14.8 [14.7, 15.0], 82.6 [81.1, 84.0], and 0.464 [0.460, 0.468]). In contrast, the lowest SES (Southeast) region had the lowest
mean of these anthropometric indices (17.6 [17.1, 18.2], 63.2 [61.7, 64.8], 14.5 [14.2, 14.8], 76.9 [74.9, 79.0], and 0.439 [0.434, 0.444]).Conclusion: We found considerable differences in the prevalence of anthropometric measures throughout the country by SES of the region. Health policy making and implementing health strategies should consider SES of regions.

Key words: Anthropometric measures, obesity, socioeconomic status, underweight