Poster Abstracts

Introduction: Obesity has become a global epidemic and is increasing in both industrialized and developing countries. The rapidly-increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity among pre-school children in developing countries was reported recently. Aim: To examine the socioeconomic differentials of childhood obesity among school children in Urban Dhaka, Bangladesh. Method: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in four kindergarten schools and 209 randomly-selected children aged 6-10 years, corresponding to primary school grades 1, 2, 3, and 4 during August 2005-July 2006. Anthropometric measurements of standing height and weight were taken for all subjects. Childhood obesity was defined as a sex and agespecific body mass index at or above the 95th percentile of the CDC growth chart. A trained interviewer measured weight…