Prevalence of Obesity in Younger School-Age Students

The primary goal of this research is to objectively determine the actual state of nutrition in younger school-aged students, of both sexes, from four primary schools in the Odžaci municipality of the Republic of Serbia. The sample of respondents consisted of younger school age students from four primary schools from the area of the Odžaci municipality (R. Serbia). The total sample of respondents consisted of 93 students of both sexes, of which 42 were boys and 51 were girls. For research needs, basic anthropometric measurements, body height and body weight were applied, and the body mass index (BMI) was calculated based on the aforementioned. The BMI was used for the purpose of assessing the nutrition of respondents - students in individual groups. All collected data was processed using descriptive and comparative statistics. The arithmetic mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum measurement values were calculated from the descriptive statistics area, while the t test of independent samples was used from the comparative statistics area. The research results show that the prevalence of obesity among younger school age students is 19.4%, while another 16.1% of students are at risk of obesity. Boys and girls did not differ significantly in BMI. Respondents - older students on average have higher BMI values than younger students, but obesity was not found to be more prevalent in any of the examined age groups. The obtained results enable the design of strategies for further research on younger school age children, for the purpose of monitoring growth and development, as well as the possibility of determining certain standards of psychophysical preparedness of children for going to school, successful school attendance and inclusion in various physical activity programs.