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Prevalence of factors leading to obesity among school children (aged 15–18 years) in Giza governorate, Egypt

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Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of obesity and the factors leading to it among adolescents in Giza governorate.

Participants and methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1021 adolescents (between 15 and 18 years of age) of both sexes. They were recruited from different schools of Giza governorate, Egypt, through convenience sampling. The ‘Obesity Questionnaire Survey Sheet’ was administered to the selected students and they were assessed for height, weight, and body composition using InBody120. The frequencies and percentages were reported for categorical variables.

Results

The results revealed that 58% of the adolescents had normal BMI, whereas 36.5% were overweight and obese. It is also interesting to find out that 78.1% had high percent body fat and 69.5% had peripheral obesity. Furthermore, 77.9% of students had trunk obesity. As regards fast food consumption, 79% of adolescents consumed it occasionally. It is also interesting that 40.4% of participants had positive family history. In addition, 54.9% of students never participated in any physical activity.

Conclusion

Our study concluded that the major risk factor for obesity in 15-18-year-old adolescents is lack of physical activity. However, consumption of fast food is also increasing in this age group. Furthermore, genetic predisposition cannot be ignored.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Therapy, Cairo University, Egypt

    Ibrahim Mohamed Abdelhakim MSc (Specialist Physical Therapist)

  2. Department of Physical Therapy, National Institute for Neuromotor System, 33 Khatem Elmorsleen St. Elharm, 12551, Giza, Egypt

    Ibrahim Mohamed Abdelhakim MSc (Specialist Physical Therapist)

  3. Department of Physical Therapy for Growth and Developmental Disorders in Children and Its Surgery, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Faten Hassan Abd El Aziem & Hoda Abd El Aziem El Talawy

Authors
  1. Ibrahim Mohamed Abdelhakim MSc
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  2. Faten Hassan Abd El Aziem
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  3. Hoda Abd El Aziem El Talawy
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Correspondence to Ibrahim Mohamed Abdelhakim MSc.

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This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work noncommercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.

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Abdelhakim, I.M., Abd El Aziem, F.H. & Abd El Aziem El Talawy, H. Prevalence of factors leading to obesity among school children (aged 15–18 years) in Giza governorate, Egypt. Bull Fac Phys Ther 22, 96–104 (2017). https://doi.org/10.4103/1110-6611.226689

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