Rates of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents in St. Petersburg: assessment of the risks of developing metabolic syndrome

Background. It is known that the earlier a person’s body weight exceeds the normal range, the metabolic disorders associated with obesity will form at an earlier age. The progressive increase in the prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome in different countries is primarily associated with the so-called “human risk factors”, which include: physical inactivity, excessive consumption of food rich in fats and carbohydrates, stress, smoking. In this regard, it is extremely important to regularly monitor the body weight of children and adolescents in order to early identify a tendency to increase body weight for the making recommendations for maintaining weight within the normal range.

Aim. To evaluate the frequency of obesity and overweight in children, adolescents and adults from among the residents of St. Petersburg, to conduct a comparative assessment of the data obtained.

Materials and methods. The work was attended by students of St. Petersburg schools (children and adolescents) and patients (adults) who are being treated in St. Petersburg State Medical Institution “Elizavetinskaya Hospital”. The sample was random: when collecting data from children and adolescents, data from one of the classes in each parallel from 4^th to 11^th grade were taken into account, when collecting data from adults – 2 people from each ward of the gastroenterology department of the St. Petersburg State Medical Institution “Elizavetinskaya Hospital”. Data collection was carried out in the period: August–December 2020. Statistical processing was performed out using the computer software package SPSS 8.0. Estimation of anthropometric parameters (age, body weight, height) and calculation of body mass index (BMI) were performed in 74 children (age 9–12 years), 137 adolescents (age 13–18 years) and 55 adults (mean age 49.12 ± 17.03).

Results. An increase in body weight was detected in 6.8% of children (5.4% – overweight and 1.4% – obese of the 1^st degree), 14.6 % of adolescents (11.7% – overweight and 2.9% – obese of the 1^st degree) and 62% of adults (36% – overweight, 13% – obese of the 1^st degree, 7% – obese of the 2^nd degree, 6% – obese of the 3^rd degree). During the correlation analysis, it was observed that the proportion of overweight people in the observed age categories increased with age (p < 0.05).

Conclusions. Overweight and obesity begin to be detected already in children, in a fairly large percentage of cases already occur in adolescents and are observed in more than half of the adults surveyed in St. Petersburg. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out activities among parents of preschoolers and schoolchildren, as well as, if possible, the children themselves, to form motivation to maintain a healthy lifestyle in order to prevent the early development of overweight.