CHSJ

Curr Health Sci J, vol. 37, no. 2, 2011

Obesity and Overweight in Children - Epidemiology and Etiopathogeny

[For Practitioners]

SIMONA COSOVEANU(1)

D. BULUCEA
(1
(1)Department of Pediatrics, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Craiova;


Abstract:

In the last few decades, obesity has become one of the most frequent nutritional diseases in the world, resembling a pandemy and being considered the 21st century disease. At present, one can notice an increased tendency with an epidemic character of obesity and overweight frequency, which came to affect, on a world scale, approximately 20-25% of children and 45-50% of the teenagers. According to a study carried out in 79 countries, WHO estimates that there are 250 million obese people in the world, among which approximately 22 million are children aged less than 5 years. Obesity is a plurifactorial disease, its occurrence supposing multiple interactions among genetic, neuroendocrine, social, behavioral, psychological or a combination of these, metabolic, cellular and molecular factors that lead to changes of the energetic balance.


Keywords: epidemiology, etiopathogeny, overweight, obesity, child



Corresponding: Simona Cosoveanu, MD, OhD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Str Petru Rares nr. 4, 200456, Craiova, Dolj, RomAnia; E-mail: scosoveanu@yahoo.com


DOI 10.12865/CHSJ.37.02.09 - Download PDF
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