Prevalence of obesity and overweight among a sample of schoolchildren

The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Algerian children aged between 6 till 10 years old by analyzing the values of body mass index (BMI Kg/m2). The data are collected during the 2012-2013 school year in a random sample of schoolchildren in the province of Saïda. The results show that BMI reaches in the overall sample (18, 16 kg / m²). The boys have an average value of (17, 97 kg / m²) and girls (17, 10 kg / m²). At 6 years, the prevalence of obesity is very significantly high (P <0.01) than the overweight (2.80% against 0.93%). while at 10 years, the prevalence of overweight is highly significant (P <0.001) than the obesity (6.54% against 2.80%). An analysis of the prevalence in relation to sex shows that the overall prevalence of obesity and overweight with both sexes in all children is (30.84 %) for obesity and (18.69%) for overweight. Therefore, girls are more obese than boys (20.56% against 10.28%), and boys are more overweight than girls (10.28% against 8.41%).