Abstract:
The WHO defines obesity as an abnormal or excessive accumulation of body fat that may impair health. Obesity should be suspected when weight increases more rapidly than height; weight-for-height charts are the clinician’s primary tool. The WHO defines overweight as a BMI above +2 z-score and obesity as a BMI above +3 z-score. The global prevalence of obesity has nearly tripled between 1975 and 2016. In Senegal, 1% of children are considered overweight according to the 2017 DHS.The main objective of our study is to determine the epidemiological and diagnostic characteristics of children followed for overweight and obesity at the Albert Royer National Children’s Hospital Center in Dakar.
Patients and Methods: We conducted a retrospective, longitudinal, descriptive, and analytical study of children monitored for overweight or obesity at the Albert Royer Children’s Hospital Center.
Results: The mean age was 8 years, with a male predominance. More than half of the children lived in urban areas. Two children had dropped out of school due to stigma. Seventy-one-point seven nine percent (71.79%) of the children received mixed feeding; 40.74% had a family history of being overweight; 51.9% had a good socioeconomic status; 48.1% had no physical activity. Cardiorespiratory complications were the most frequent (17.28%), followed by psychosocial complications (7.41%). Eighty-two percent of the children in our study had common obesity. Among the 57 children, 98.25% had a weight-for-height ratio greater than +3 z-score. Ninety-eight percent of the children in our study had a BMI above the 97th percentile. Adipogynecomastia was the most frequent associated sign in boys, observed in 23.45% of cases. Twenty percent of female patients had severe obesity compared to 4% of male patients. The difference was statistically significant, with a p-value of 0.02. Female patients were six times more likely to present with severe obesity than boys.
Conclusion: Obesity is a public health problem that requires multidisciplinary management. It is important in our developing countries to develop prevention strategies in order to slow its progression toward chronic complications.
