PMID- 30307896
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20190110
LR  - 20191210
IS  - 2191-0251 (Electronic)
IS  - 0334-018X (Linking)
VI  - 31
IP  - 11
DP  - 2018 Nov 27
TI  - Prevalence of overweight and obesity and anthropometric reference centiles for 
      Albanian children and adolescents living in four Balkan nation-states.
PG  - 1199-1206
LID - 10.1515/jpem-2018-0253 [doi]
AB  - Background The extent of the obesity epidemic among youth is an important public 
      health statistic which provides an indication of the future burden of 
      non-communicable diseases. Many developing countries, including Albania, do not 
      have systematic and repeated monitoring systems in operation. Methods The Balkan 
      Survey of Inactivity in Children study is a population-based cross-sectional 
      survey including Albanian children living in the four Balkan nation-states of 
      Albania, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia and Montenegro. In total, 19,850 children from 49 
      schools were approached. The LMS method was used to provide body mass index 
      (BMI), height, weight and waist circumference reference centiles for boys and 
      girls. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Obesity Task Force 
      (IOTF) age- and sex-specific BMI cut-points were applied to evaluate adiposity 
      levels. Results A sample of 18,460 participants aged 6-16 years old was available 
      for creation of the BMI for age and sex reference centiles. The prevalence of 
      overweight (including obesity) in the full sample was 21% (95% CI: 20%-21%) 
      according to IOTF cut-off points and 28% (95% CI: 28%-29%) at WHO cut-off points. 
      Overweight/obesity levels where higher in boys than in girls irrespective of the 
      cut-off points applied (p<0.001). Noticeable between-country differences were 
      observed with a prevalence of overweight/obesity of 40% (95% CI: 38%-42%) in 
      Montenegro but only 20% (95% CI: 19%-21%) in Kosovo (WHO cut-off points). 
      Conclusions Overweight/obesity is highly prevalent in Albanian children and 
      adolescents. The apparent sex and country differences may inform public health 
      actions.
FAU - Tarp, Jakob
AU  - Tarp J
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-9186-7077
AD  - Research Unit for Exercise Epidemiology, Centre of Research in Childhood Health, 
      Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern 
      Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
FAU - Jarani, Juel
AU  - Jarani J
AD  - Faculty of Movement Sciences, Sports University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania.
FAU - Muca, Florian
AU  - Muca F
AD  - Albanian Sports Science Association, Tirana, Albania.
FAU - Spahi, Andi
AU  - Spahi A
AD  - Faculty of Physical Activity and Recreation, Sports University of Tirana, Tirana, 
      Albania.
FAU - Grontved, Anders
AU  - Grontved A
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-1584-679X
AD  - Research Unit for Exercise Epidemiology, Centre of Research in Childhood Health, 
      Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern 
      Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - Germany
TA  - J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab
JT  - Journal of pediatric endocrinology & metabolism : JPEM
JID - 9508900
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Age Factors
MH  - Albania/epidemiology
MH  - *Body Mass Index
MH  - Child
MH  - Cross-Sectional Studies
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Kosovo/epidemiology
MH  - Male
MH  - Montenegro/epidemiology
MH  - Obesity/*epidemiology
MH  - Overweight/*epidemiology
MH  - Prevalence
MH  - Reference Values
MH  - Republic of North Macedonia/epidemiology
MH  - Waist Circumference/*physiology
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - LMS
OT  - anthropometry
OT  - public health monitoring
OT  - reference centiles
OT  - survey
EDAT- 2018/10/12 06:00
MHDA- 2019/01/11 06:00
CRDT- 2018/10/12 06:00
PHST- 2018/06/05 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2018/09/06 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2018/10/12 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2019/01/11 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2018/10/12 06:00 [entrez]
AID - /j/jpem.ahead-of-print/jpem-2018-0253/jpem-2018-0253.xml [pii]
AID - 10.1515/jpem-2018-0253 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab. 2018 Nov 27;31(11):1199-1206. doi: 
      10.1515/jpem-2018-0253.