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Prevalence of overweight and obesity among children aged 6-12 years in Dodoma and Kinondoni Municipalities, Tanzania

2010; African Journals OnLine; Volume: 12; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4314/thrb.v12i1.56202

0856-6496

Theobald C.E. Mosha, S. Fungo,

Children's Physical and Motor Development

A cross-sectional comparison study was conducted to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among schoolchildren428 children aged 6-12 years in Dodoma and Kinondoni municipalities in Tanzania. Anthropometric and body composition measurements were taken for all respondents. A total of 428 children were involved in the study. The prevalence of obesity among children aged 6–9 years in Dodoma and Kinondoni were 5.6% (n = 118) and 6.3% (n = 87), respectively. Likewise, 4.2% (n = 118) of children aged 6–9 years in Dodoma were overweight while 8.6% (n = 87) of their counterparts in Kinondoni municipality were overweight. For children aged 10–12 years, 3.9% (n= 118) in Dodoma were obese compared to 5.8% (n = 87) of their peers in Kinondoni. Some 4.9% of the children aged 10–12 years in Dodoma were overweight compared to 5.8% of their counterparts in Kinondoni. The average body fat mass of children aged 6 - 9 years in Dodoma ranged from 21.42-21.81%, while that of their peers in Kinondoni ranged from 21.66-21.98%. The average body fat mass of children aged 10-12 years ranged between 23.95–24.10% in Dodoma and 23.65-24.95% in Kinondoni. There were gender and age differences in body fat mass distribution, with girls and the older children having significantly (P