Abstract
To investigate the actual situation of obese children in a rural district and to make fundamental data available for taking steps to cope with the overweight problem, we performed a logitudinal study of obesity incidence in senior high school students over the whole period ofattendance at school from the first year until graduation. The subjects were 338 male and 387 female students. The degree of obesity was determined in accordance with Murata's index.
Our findings were compared with the results of a similar investigation covering 238 male and 163female senior high school students in an urban district of Hokkaido.
The obesity incidence was significantly (p<0.05) higher among the rural students than among their urban counterparts, regardless of sex. In the rural district, 18 boys and 17 girls had already been regarded as obese when they were admitted to their junior high school, and 14 (78%) of those boys and 7 (42%) of those girls remained obese until 14 years of age.
However, the number of obese children increased rapidly when they entered the period of adolescent growth spurt but most of those obese children came within normal range of body weight by 14 years of age.
Based on these characteristics of childhood obesity, we should encourage children, especially in early infancy, to have proper exercise and to follow good health practices.
