Body mass index in children and its relation with socio-economic factors in West-Azerbaijan, Iran

By the epidemiological transition, most of the developing countries still have malnutrition problem as well as different levels of obesity and overweight as most important risk factors of non-communicable and chronic diseases. Body mass index (BMI) is a suitable index for studying them. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between children’s BMI and household socioeconomic status in West-Azerbaijan province, Iran, in 2015. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 1024 children aged 6-7 years who were assessed in Sanjesh Plan conducted by Organization of Exceptional Education and Training. To determine BMI, world health organization (WHO) Growth Reference (2007) was used. Then, to estimate the risk factors affecting BMI, chi-square test and categorical (multinomial) logistic regression were used. The results showed that obesity, overweight, and thinness were 2.5%, 12.7%, 5.2% in girls, and 4.4%, 12.3%, and 1.8% in boys, respectively, which were statistically significant. Of all the variables studied, insurance, occupation and education level of parents, birth order, and number of household members were not statistically significant. The rest of indicators such as gender, location of residence (city or village), ethnicity, and development degree were statistically significant. Since analysis showed that BMI had relation with development degree and location of residence, it can be said that West-Azerbaijan is at the median of transition. Therefore, health policy makers should pay enough attention to prevention of obesity and overweight as well as elimination of thinness and malnutrition.