Prevalence of Childhood Overweight and Obesity. Ecuadorian Social Security Institute,Quevedo 2015

Abstract

The Study was realized with the purpose to determine the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity in children and teenagers who went to external consultation of pediatrics at IEES Quevedo clinic B, in the year 2015. It was a non- experimental investigation, transversal, descriptive, and mixed because it has quantitative and qualitative components by means of which statistical measurements were made. The study sample were 5,599 patients in whom the following variables were studied: age, gender, weight, height, CMI, and nutritional state that was classified according to the Z score in normal weight, mild malnutrition, moderate and severe, overweight, obesity, and severe obesity. It was found out that 57% of the patients had a normal weight, overweight 19%, obesity 9%, severe obesity 2%, mild malnutrition 10%, moderate malnutrition 2% and severe malnutrition 1%. It was shown that prevalence of childhood obesity has increased in a considerate way in the children population, and that has serious consequences in physical and mental health; it also implies a public health problem by the complications which they produce at the long term, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast and colorectal cancer. It is fundamental in Primary Care to implement strategic prevention measures in childhood, having good eating habits and a heathy lifestyle.