Vizcaino, FM; Aguilar, FS; Artalejo, FR; Vizcaino, VM; Contreras, MLD; Regidor, RT

Univ Castilla La Mancha, Area Salud Publ, EU Enfermeria, Cuenca 16071, Spain; Ctr Salud Cuenca I, Unidad Docente Med Familia & Comunitaria, Cuenca, Spain; Univ Autonoma Madrid, Fac Med, Dept Med Prevent & Salud Publ, E-28049 Madrid, Spain

BACKGROUND: The goals of this study were to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in schoolchildren of Cuenca -a Spanish city-, and to track down both conditions over 6 years. METHOD: The follow-up study of cardiovascular risk factors began in 1992 with a cross-sectional survey of 307 children aged 9-12 years old who were recruited in three public schools. On a second survey in 1998, we examined schoolchildren of the 1992 cohort as well as 9-13 years-old schoolchildren from the same public schools. Besides socio-demographics variables, we determined weight, height and body mass index (SMI). Individuals were classified as having normal weight, overweight and obesity, according to criteria of the International Obesity Task Force. RESULTS: Prevalence of overweight was 26.6%, and that of obesity was 3.9%. Overweight and obesity were more frequent in women that in men (not statistically significant differences). Spearman's correlation coefficient in the cohort followed-up between 1992 and 1998 regarding BMI was 0.72. Intra-class; correlation coefficient between BMI percentile in 1992 and 1998 was 0.78. Relative risk of overweight and obesity in 1998 for individuals who had overweight or obesity in 1992 was 2.9 (95% Cl, 2.21-4.04). CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of overweight and obesity in schoolchildren of Cuenca is among the highest reported so far. BMI increased from the pre-pubertal through the post-pubertal period.