The epidemiology and prevention of childhood obesity in Tehran, Iran

Childhood obesity is a recognised increasing public health problem in Iran, but no evidence for effective prevention strategies is available. The aim was to inform the development of an obesity prevention intervention for Iranian school children. A quantitative analysis was used to examine the pattern and associated factors with obesity and a qualitative study explored the beliefs of parents and school staff about the causes of childhood obesity and potential interventions. Overall 28.2% of the children were overweight or obese and there was a non-significant tendency for increased energy intake with higher weight status. Measures of body fat were highly positively correlated with blood pressure. There was generally accurate body size perception among children and no relationship between weight status and quality of life scores. Focus group participants identified a range of perceived obesity risk factors related to diet and physical activity at the micro and macro levels. In terms of interventions, the importance of macro level activities was highlighted. The study confirms that childhood obesity is an important health problem in Tehran and highlighted socio-economic variations in prevalence, which will inform the targeting of prevention interventions. Important contextual information was obtained to inform the development of a prevention intervention