Obesity among school children in a province of southern Thailand and its association with socioeconomic status

Abstract

The association of nutrition status of children aged 7-12 years (n=663) with socioeconomic factors in a province of southern Thailand in 1995 was investigated. Three type of schools were surveyed: a school with a higher educational standard (elite school) in the municipality of the province, a school with many children from low-income families (low-income school) in the same municipality, and five ordinary schools in rural areas of the province (district schools). The proportions of obese children were 22.1%, 5.8% and 2.7%, respectively for the three type of schools, when obesity was defined as weight to height of over 120% of the median of children in Bangkok. The risk ratios and 95% confidence intervals for obesity in the elite and the low-income schools were 5.0 (3.5-7.2) and 1.9 (0.8-4.8), respectively, taking the district schools as a reference. Our research suggested that the high prevalence of obesity among elite-school children could be related to the comparatively high socioeconomic status of the children's families. It also shows that the children in the province studied were as a whole considerably leaner than children in the big cities of Thailand. These results imply a need for appropriate interventions which cannot only prevent obesity, but also improve the malnutrition of school children in the rural provinces of southern Thailand.