Overweight and obesity in school-age children and teenagers of a urban area of Riobamba city, Ecuador

<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>To determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among school students and adolescents of a urban area of the city of Riobamba.</p><p><strong>Material and Methods:</strong> 3680 students between 5 and 19 years, 1581 school students and 2099 adolescents enrolled in 65 units of basic education and high school were studied. The variables studied were: type of educational establishment, sex, age, weight and height. For the diagnosis of nutritional status, the WHO-2007 reference standards of body mass index for were used. School children and adolescents whose standard deviation was found &lt;–2 were considered thin, between –2 and +1 normal weight, &gt;+1 to +2 overweight and &gt;+2 as obesity. Data were analyzed by the computer programs: Anthro Plus v1.0.4 and SPSS v20.</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> Being overweight affects 24.1% of school/adolescents; overweight, 17.8% and 6.3% obese. Excess weight is statistically higher (p&lt;0.0001) in school (27.7%) than in adolescents (21.5%). Similarly, excess weight is statistically higher (p&lt;0.0001) in children men (31.0%) than in women (24,4%) at school age. And it is statistically higher (p&lt;0.0001) in adolescent females (23.3%) than in adolescent males (19.8%). Being overweight in school/adolescents affects: private schools (27.7%), treasury missionary establishments (25.3%) and fiscal establishments (22.9%). Similarly, excess weight is greater among schoolchildren in private schools (28.1%) than in fiscal establishments, 27.7% (non statistically p = 0.9984). And it is statistically greater (p &lt;0.0001) in adolescents of private establishments (27.6%) than in fiscal establishments (18.4%).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The prevalence of weight excess (overweight / obesity) in school students and young urban area of the city of Riobamba is high (24.1%), and is higher in school age (27.7%) than in adolescents (21,5%). An intervention is needed to prevent and treat this serious public health trend.