Prevalence of Overweight, Obesity, and Thinness in Cameroon Urban Children and Adolescents
Objective. This study examined the prevalence of thinness, overweight, and obesity in Cameroon children ranging from 8 to 15 years old using several published references as evaluation tools. Methods. A stratified sample was used with eleven schools randomly selected, and data from 2689 children (52....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2013-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Obesity |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/737592 |
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| author | Ponce Cedric Fouejeu Wamba Julius Enyong Oben Katherine Cianflone |
| author_facet | Ponce Cedric Fouejeu Wamba Julius Enyong Oben Katherine Cianflone |
| author_sort | Ponce Cedric Fouejeu Wamba |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective. This study examined the prevalence of thinness, overweight, and obesity in Cameroon children ranging from 8 to 15 years old using several published references as evaluation tools. Methods. A stratified sample was used with eleven schools randomly selected, and data from 2689 children (52.2% girls) ranging from 8 to 15 years were analyzed. Weight and height were recorded and BMI was calculated. BMI cutoffs used to define nutritional status grades included two international and three national published indices which were compared to our database-derived cutoffs. Results. A prevalence of 9.5% thinness and 12.4% overweight including 1.9% obesity according to international references was detected. A 2.2% low-weight-for-age, 5.7% low-height-for-age, and 5.2% low-weight-for-height were identified. Overall, there were significant differences using calculations based on our database versus published reference values and between boys versus girls. Conclusions. This study demonstrates that prevalence of thinness, overweight, and obesity is similar to that of other leading-emerging countries reported within the last decade, yet it is still lower than prevalence in developed countries. Ethnic background and social environment have impact on prevalences, highlighting the importance of evaluating the Cameroon population based on locally derived database. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d7f0b64c20f945c89e9a21a00203d817 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2090-0708 2090-0716 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Obesity |
| spelling | doaj-art-d7f0b64c20f945c89e9a21a00203d8172025-08-20T03:23:52ZengWileyJournal of Obesity2090-07082090-07162013-01-01201310.1155/2013/737592737592Prevalence of Overweight, Obesity, and Thinness in Cameroon Urban Children and AdolescentsPonce Cedric Fouejeu Wamba0Julius Enyong Oben1Katherine Cianflone2Laboratory of Nutrition and Nutritional Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé 1, P.O. Box 8418, Yaoundé, CameroonLaboratory of Nutrition and Nutritional Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé 1, P.O. Box 8418, Yaoundé, CameroonCentre de Recherche Institut Universitaire Cardiologie & Pneumologie de Québec, Y4323, 2725 Chemin Sainte-Foy, Québec, QC, G1V 4G5, CanadaObjective. This study examined the prevalence of thinness, overweight, and obesity in Cameroon children ranging from 8 to 15 years old using several published references as evaluation tools. Methods. A stratified sample was used with eleven schools randomly selected, and data from 2689 children (52.2% girls) ranging from 8 to 15 years were analyzed. Weight and height were recorded and BMI was calculated. BMI cutoffs used to define nutritional status grades included two international and three national published indices which were compared to our database-derived cutoffs. Results. A prevalence of 9.5% thinness and 12.4% overweight including 1.9% obesity according to international references was detected. A 2.2% low-weight-for-age, 5.7% low-height-for-age, and 5.2% low-weight-for-height were identified. Overall, there were significant differences using calculations based on our database versus published reference values and between boys versus girls. Conclusions. This study demonstrates that prevalence of thinness, overweight, and obesity is similar to that of other leading-emerging countries reported within the last decade, yet it is still lower than prevalence in developed countries. Ethnic background and social environment have impact on prevalences, highlighting the importance of evaluating the Cameroon population based on locally derived database.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/737592 |
| spellingShingle | Ponce Cedric Fouejeu Wamba Julius Enyong Oben Katherine Cianflone Prevalence of Overweight, Obesity, and Thinness in Cameroon Urban Children and Adolescents Journal of Obesity |
| title | Prevalence of Overweight, Obesity, and Thinness in Cameroon Urban Children and Adolescents |
| title_full | Prevalence of Overweight, Obesity, and Thinness in Cameroon Urban Children and Adolescents |
| title_fullStr | Prevalence of Overweight, Obesity, and Thinness in Cameroon Urban Children and Adolescents |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prevalence of Overweight, Obesity, and Thinness in Cameroon Urban Children and Adolescents |
| title_short | Prevalence of Overweight, Obesity, and Thinness in Cameroon Urban Children and Adolescents |
| title_sort | prevalence of overweight obesity and thinness in cameroon urban children and adolescents |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/737592 |
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