Trends of underweight and obesity prevalence among adolescent girls in the selected population of the Silesian Agglomeration

Introduction. Poland lacks epidemiological studies assessing the incidence of eating disorders (ED) in the population of children and teenagers, and reports on eating habits as well as knowledge of teenagers with ED are scarce. A study on a very big cohort of girls from a big city in the Silesian agglomeration was planned in order to assess the incidence of underweight and obesity as predictive factors of ED. Objective of the study. 1. Determination of the state of nutrition in the examined population of 18-year-old girls.  2. Retrospective determination of the state of nutrition of the same girls when they were 14 years old. 3. The answer to the question whether the examined group exhibits the tendency to consolidate abnormalities in terms of the body weight over time. Material and methods. 1047 female students of secondary schools, aged 18, were subjected to anthropometric measurements (body weight, height, BMI, BMI-SDS) and took part in a survey questionnaire devoted to their eating habits. The measurement results of the same girls aged 14 were obtained retrospectively. Results. When the subjects were 14 years old, 79.7% of them had a normal body weight, 14.9% were obese, and 5.4% were underweight. At the age of 18, 76.6% of the subjects had a normal body weight, 17.2% were obese, and 6.2% were underweight. 4.7% of the girls with a normal weight aged 14 reduced their body weight, and 9.2% became obese at 18 the age of 18. None of the underweight subjects demonstrated obesity at the age of 18, and 45.6% maintained their body weight below the normal limits. 66% of the girls who were obese at the age of 14 maintained their obesity at the age of 18. Conclusions. 1. Most girls in the examined population at 14 and 18 years of age demonstrate a normal nutrition state. Obesity was observed in 15% of the examined females at the age of 14 and in 17% at the age of 18, whereas 5% of girls aged 14 and 6% of girls aged 18 are underweight. 2. From early to late adolescence a tendency to persistent abnormalities of the nutritional status is observed in girls. 3. Obesity in girls aged 14 is a predictor for obesity at the age of 18 and perhaps in the adult life.