Obésité des enfants scolarisés à Tébessa (1995-2007)

Abstract

The frequencies of the overweight and the obesity are in increase at the children in the world, what led the World Health Organization (WHO) to speak about real epidemic. The situation of Algeria is badly known until now. The main objective of the study was to esteem the distribution, in a population of children and teenagers schooled to Tébessa by the corpulence esteemed by the body mass index (BMI) and to characterize certain factors associated to the staturo-weight state. The frequency of the overweight and the obesity according to the references of the IOTF was considered at 11.37 p. cent between 1995 and 2007. This prevalence is crossed by 17.39 p. cent in 1995/98 in 8.49 p. cent in 2005/2007. The children from 10 to 13 years old are the only ones who presented an evolution during this period. The girls are more touched by the obesity than the boys. Conversely the boys are slightly more touched by the overweight than the girls. Although the difference is not significant, prevalence of the obesity is more raised at the families which have a high socioeconomic level. This is can be bound to an access easy to the energy food which leads to a food imbalance talk of overweight and obesity. A significant link was observed between the parental obesity and that of the children. The born weight of the children in overweight is significantly more brought up than that of the normal weight boys. Prevalence of the overweight is more brought up at the child's who were not breast-fed in the breast but, the difference is not significant. Except the hours of the school, the children in overweight more go in for sport than normal weight boys. During the weekend, the children in overweight pass significantly more time in front of the television than the normal weight boys. This sedentary behaviour at the obese children was put in evidence in several other studies. The children in overweight are less many to have breakfast that the normal weight boys. But, they are more frequent to declare to nibble except the meals of food rich in carbohydrates and lipids. The children in overweight are more frequent to prefer pizzas and to throw back vegetables. We found significant correlations between the energy contributions and the past to play outside and between the energy contributions and the average physical activity level (average PAL). The consumption of lipids and carbohydrates is close between the children in overweight and the normal weight boys Prevalence of the overweight in our study shows that the situation of Tébessa is comparable to that of the other countries so the obesity, for a long time ignored in our country, can represent in the years to come a real problem of public health. So, precautionary measures must be envisaged, based on the information of the population about the fatal effects of the obesity on the health and of the efficiency of a less high in calories food associated with a regular physical activity.