Morphological Characteristics and Body Mass Status of School Girls according to Different Regional Zones

Abstract

There are many factors that have an influence on obesity therefore, early regular monitoring of morphological characteristics and nutritional status of children is the best prevention method. This study aimed to examine the influence of two regional zones in Montenegro on morphological differences and the nutritional status of school girls. The sample of respondents was selected from several different primary schools. The sample was divided by regions (Vlada Crne Gore, 2011) into two groups, girls from the Central region (n-55, 10.21±.72 years), and the Coastal region (n- 42, 10.33±.59 years). Morphological characteristics were assessed using a battery of four variables: body height (BH), body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), and hip circumference (HC). BMI and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) values were calculated. We used WHO cutoff points for the assessment of the children’s nutrition status. For determining differences between children living in different regions we used a T-test for independent samples. 27.27% of girls from the Central region are obese compared to 23.81% of obese in the Coastal region. When comparing groups by regional regions, it is noticeable that there is no significant difference in morphological characteristics and body mass index. Although there is no difference in the morphological characteristics between girls of the Central and Coastal regions, for more detailed conclusions, a larger number of morphological parameters should be monitored on a larger sample of respondents.