Prevalence of Childhood Obesity and its PreventionSystematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century
and prevalent global public health issue as children. The number of overweight or obese infants and young
children (aged 0 to 5 years) increased from 32 million globally in 1990 to 41 million in 2016. Overweight and
obese children are likely to stay obese into adulthood and more likely to develop non communicable diseases
like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases at a younger age. Therefore Prevention of childhood needs high
priority. Material & Methods: 125 citations in PubMed & ISI Web of science found by electronic search and
finally 19 articles were selected for writing systemic review. The search strategy consisted of search strings
composed of terms targeting: prevalence, childhood obesity, prevention we restricted the search to articles
published since 2012 to appropriate balances feasibility of implementation and the validity of the resulting
information. Result: The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents aged 5-19
has risen dramatically from just 4% in 1975 to just over 18% in 2016. (WHO, 2017). Somewhere between
5.74 percent and 8.82 percent of school children in India are obese. In China, the overweight and obesity
rate in children aged 7 and over was 12.2% and 7.3%, respectively. Four different studies were screened
which was focused on at least one components like physical activity, physical fitness, fruit consumption.
Significant changes observed on sedentary time (Watching TV and studying), active play time and fruit
consumption but there was no effect on BMI or the prevalence of Overweight/ Obesity. A family Based
Obesity prevention programme is effective strategy to prevent childhood obesity by providing physical
activity classes to improve behavior and skills of the children. Conclusion: The strength of evidence is
stated that family based intervention plays pivotal role in preventing Childhood obesity