Objective
To understand the overweight or obesity status and relevant knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) among middle school students in Jing'an District, Shanghai, and to provide evidence for intervention.
Methods
Three schools were randomly selected out of 15 middle schools in Jing'an District, Shanghai, and a total of 1 100 students were enrolled in this study. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect demographic information, overweight & obesity related knowledge and attitude, dietary behavior, physical exercise, and sedentary behavior. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated.
Results
A total of 1 089 completed questionnaires were collected out of 1 100 participants. Among them, 7.5% (n=82) and 10.3% (n=112) students were overweight and obese respectively. The rates of overweight (P=0.017) and obesity (P=0.001) were all significantly higher in boys (12.1%, 12.6%) than in girls (3.6%, 8.2%). More girls had knowledge on meat, drinking water, and fast food than boys, believed that obesity is harmful to health, and wanted to lose weight (P < 0.05). Besides, 21.0% students without overweight or obesity considered themselves as slightly overweight; 41.3% (449/1 088) students were not satisfied with their body weight; 63.0% (685/1 088) students wanted to improve their weight status; 76.5% (833/1 089) students believed that they can achieve an ideal weight through their own efforts. Moreover, 35.4% students drank beverages. In the post seven days, 90.1% of the students had moderate-intensity physical activity; the daily average sedentary time for the students was 2.90 h/d and 4.95 h/d during extracurricular time in workdays and on weekends/holidays respectively.
Conclusion
The obesity rate of the middle school students is relatively high in Jing'an District. Some students do not have an objective assessment of their body shape. They also report excess sedentary time. Therefore, relevant departments should pay attention to such phenomenon.
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