Tímarit hjúkrunarfræðinga - 2022, Page 111

Obesity in early life can have many consequences
and obese children are more often diagnosed
later in life, with various diseases than children at
ideal weight. The aim of this study was to analyze
lifestyle factors related to overweight and obesity
among school-children in Suðurnes region and
connection between overweight/obesity and
lifestyle factors such as diet, D-vitamin intake,
exercise and sleep.
The research design was descriptive cross-
sectional. Data was obtained from Ískrá, the
electronic medical registration system used by
school nurses in Iceland. The study includes all
school children in 1., 4., 7. and 9. grade in Suðurnes
region, the school year 2019-2020.
According to this research the proportion of
children with overweight and obesity increases
as the children get older, which can be related to
not eating breakfast, not practicing sports and not
getting enough sleep. In an effort, to prevent weight
gain, the focus should be on increased education on
the preventive value of the three factors, especially
in the upper grades, and school nurses play a key
role in that area.
Aim
Results
ENGLISH SUMMARY
Weight of primary school children
in Suðurnes and connection with
lifestyle factors
Method
Children, overweight, obesity, lifestyle factors,
school nursing
Correspondent:
annast@hss.is
Conclusion
Keywords
Weight of primary school children
Stefansdottir A, Sigurdardottir AK and Olafsson K.
The sample, 1402 children, was all school children
that had measurements in Ískrá the school year
2019-2020. Out of them 447 were overweight/
obese, where of 20% (n=284) were overweight,
and 12% (n=163) obese. The highest proportion
of overweight children was among girls in the 7th
grade (24%) and the highest proportion of obese
children was among boys in the 9th grade (17%). A
significant difference was seen according to weight
if they ate breakfast (p=0,004), if they practiced
sports in the 7th and 9th grade, (p=0,013) and
hours of sleep in both 1st and 4th grade, (p=0,001)
and 7th and 9th grade (p=0,007). In grade 9 it was
demonstrated by using logistic regression, that for
each positive lifestyle factor that was followed, the
risk for overweight/obesity reduced by 18%.