Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Obesity in youth has become increasingly common. This study aims to determine the predictive factors of obesity in adolescents.

Materials and Methods: This is an analytical cross-sectional study of a representative sample of high school students in the year 2019. Overweight and obesity were defined based on age- and sex-specific body mass index (BMI) z-score cutoffs. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 software.

Results: A total of 1153 adolescents were recruited. The mean age was 17.19±1.14 years with a minimum of 13 years and a maximum of 19 years. The sex-ratio M/F was 0.6. Obesity affected 9.4%, 95% CI [7.9%-11%] of adolescents. Regarding predictive factors, there was a female predominance (69.4%) in the obese group, whereas in the normal weight group, the female sex represented (59.4%), (P=0.002). Obesity was more common in adolescents with depression (68%) than in those without depression (31%) (P<10-3). We also noted that the majority (91%) of the obese used social networks versus (8%) who did not have access to these means (P<10-3). We found that (68%) of the obese did not engage in regular physical activity versus (31%) who did practice regular activity (P=0.012).

Conclusion: Normalization of body weight before the onset of puberty is very important because adolescents who are obese often maintain their weight until adulthood. In addition, obesity in adolescence is significantly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, in adulthood. This study has identified some predictive factors of obesity in adolescents. The identification of these modifiable factors makes it possible to propose corrective actions to prevent the associated risk.