Risk Factors Associated with Overweight among Adolescents in Serbia

INTRODUCTION: The pandemic of obesity in adolescents is one of the challenges of public health. AIM: The aim of this study was to examine the association of overweight with demographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors among Serbian adolescents. METHOD: A cross-sectional study of 2139 adolescents aged 10 to 19 years was carried out. Data used in this study were from the 2006 Health Survey. In accordance with the international sex- and age-specific Body Mass Index cut-off points, all participants were classified as being normal weight or overweight, including obese. The association between the risk factors and overweight were examined using a multivariate logistic regression model. RESULTS: The study showed that 28.9% of boys and 17.0% of girls were overweight, while 14.5% of boys and 8.1% of girls were obese. Boys were more likely to be overweight/obese, compared with girls. Being younger (p< 0.01 for 14 to 15 years) and (p< 0.01, for 16 to 19 years), engaging in physical activities that last less than 7 hours a week, in such a manner that they breathe quickly and become sweaty, (p< 0.01) and skipping breakfast (p< 0.05) were risk factors significantly associated with overweight among adolescents. No significant association was found with wealth index. CONCLUSION: These findings should be an integral part of further preventive interventions, especially oriented towards younger adolescents, who are physically inactive, have a habit of skipping breakfast and are boys.