Prevalencia de sobrepeso, obesidad y factores de riesgo en una cohorte de escolares en Bogotá, Colombia

Introduction: Obesity in children and adolescents is a public health problem that can go unnoticed if it is not clinically characterized early in primary care centers.Objective: To determine the prevalence of overweigh and obesity among children from 5 to 10 years, who attended to the outpatient pediatrics service at one Primary Care Center in Bogota, between 2017 and 2018.Methodology: Cross–sectional study. All 5 to 10 years old patients, attending to the outpatient pediatrics service at Clinicentro Calle 80, were included. Strict–consecutive inclusion was performed. Participants were weighted and sized; standard deviations of BMI were calculated. A survey evaluating possibly associated risk factors to overweight and obesity was fulfilled.Results: Three hundred patients were included. 148 (49,33%) were girls and 152 (50,66%) boys. The mean age was 7 years. Seventy percent had an adequate weight to the age, 14,86% and 7,43% of girls and 12,5% and 5,25% of boys had overweighed and obesity, respectively.Conclusion: High obesity prevalence was found. Considering the relevant medical consequences that overweigh and obesity has over the pediatric population, adulthood and its economic implications, this finding has remarkable clinical implications. Design and implementation of public strategies which aim is to impact on nutrition quality and physical activity since early ages, must represent one of the most important criteria during development of childhood health policies in Colombia.