Valerij Dobrovolskij, Rimantas Stukas
Abstract
The link between obesity, poor health outcomes and all-cause mortality is well established. Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. A crude population measure of obesity is the body mass index (BMI), a person’s weight (in kilograms) divided by the square of his or her height (in metres). A person with a BMI of 30 or more is generally considered obese. A person with a BMI equal to or more than 25 is considered overweight. The aim of the research was to determine and asses body mass index among student in Lithuanian high schools. Target population – the students of the Lithuanian universities. 1910 questionnaires were distributed and collected; 86 of them were filled in improperly, the 1824 were used in the study. Students surveyed in 2013. The level of statistical significance was chosen α = 0.05; the results were assessed as statistically significant when p ≤ 0.05. Statistical analysis performed by using SPSS and WinPepi programs. The results showed that majority (78.5 percent) of the students had normal BMI, 9.3 percent of students were overweight and 11.4 percent had lack of weight. More males, compared to females, were overweight.
Keyword(s): students; body mass index
DOI: 10.5200/sm-hs.2015.045
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