www.aaem.pl ORIGINAL ARTICLE Estimation of physical activity and prevalence of excessive body mass in rural and urban Polish adolescents

Excessive body mass and sedentary lifestyle are well-known factors for cardiovascular risk, which when present in the young population may have signifi cant health consequences, both in the short- and long-term. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of overweight, obesity, and sedentary lifestyle in two teenage populations living in an urban or rural area. An additional aim was to compare their physical activity. The study was designed and conducted in 2009. The study population consisted of 116 students aged 15-17 years – 61 males (52.7%) and 55 females (47.3%), randomly selected from public junior grammar schools and secondary schools in the Poznań Region. There were 61 respondents from a rural area – 32 males (52.5%) and 29 females (47.5%), whereas 55 teenagers lived in an urban area – 29 males (47.5%) and 26 females (47.3%). Students were asked to complete a questionnaire, which was especially prepared for the study and contained questions concerning health and lifestyle. A basic physical examination was carried out in all 116 students, including measurements of the anthropometric features. Calculations were performed using the statistical package STATISTICA (data analysis software system), Version. 8.0. When comparing these two populations, no statistically signifi cant diff erences were detected in the ratio of weight-growth, with the exception of the fact that the urban youths had a larger hip circumference (97.1 v. 94.3 cm, p<0.05). In the group of urban students there were also signifi cantly more subjects with excessive body weight (27.3 % v. 24.6%, p<0.05), with a predominant proportion of obese students (60%). There were signifi cantly more male obese individual