Childhood overweight and obesity at primary school age

Childhood overweight and obesity is a present issue not only in the Czech Republic, but worldwide. The main objective of this thesis was to assess overweight and obesity in children of primary school age in towns and in villages in the Central Bohemian Region and to focus on their alimentation habits and physical activity. The thesis consists of two parts. The first theoretical part describes the characteristics of primary school age, introduction to the topic, epidemiology, causes of the origin, types of obesity, diagnostics, problems of obese children, nutrition of children and adolescents and their alimentation habits, prevention, medical treatment, specific programs for the prevention and treatment of childhood overweight and obesity and an overview of the myths about childhood obesity. The second practical part of the thesis includes questionnaire study implemented within the 4th grade of chosen urban and non-urban schools in the Central Bohemian Region and semi-structured interview with mother of a child suffering from overweight since early age. The survey included 155 pupils of the 4th grade from two urban and five non-urban schools of the Central Bohemian Region. The results of the questionnaire study proved that 23 % of urban and 20 % of non-urban pupils suffer from overweight and obesity. An important factor is their different lifestyle. Non-urban children spend their leisure time in a passive way, they prefer playing PC games to physical activities, attend less extra sport classes and consume more sweets than urban children. More urban pupils consume three to four meals on a daily basis in contrast with non-urban pupils who tend to consume five to six portions. Most prefer healthy food to unhealthy food and tend to eat mainly czech dishes at home. 90% of the questioned children expressed positive attitude to sport. More than half of the children suffering from overweight and obesity do not practice any sport or physical activities sufficiently. Due to the importance of regular alimentation and consumption of breakfast and snacks, it is a positive finding that three quarters of the children have breakfast regularly and bring home-made snacks to school. The semi-structured interview with mother of an overweight child proved that overweight is not caused by overeating and by a passive lifestyle but also by genetic predisposition. In the conclusion, the author presents the outcome of the work and a general primary prevention at family level, school level and community level