In the beginning of 2011, according to WHO more than 40 million children under 5 years are overweight, and over 30 million of them live in developing countries. In Bulgaria Iotova et. al. (2009) reported an increased incidence of obesity in 9-year old girls from 4.3% to 10.4% over a period of 5 years (2002-2007).
Aim: To determine the incidence of overweight and general and abdominal obesity in preschool children, and also some risk behaviors and their trend over 2009.
Participants and methods: height, weight and WC were measured of a total of 117 children aged 4,53±0.29 years that were attending kindergartens in Varna. BMI (kg/m2) was calculated and compared with the IOTF references for the corresponding age and sex. The comparison was made with a group of 189 children from Varna, of the same age (mean age 4,58±0,31 years), measured by the same methods in 2009. Res ults : When comparing the two groups there was a significant reduction in WC (p=0.022). In 2009 OW/ obese were 12.7% of the children and significantly increased to 19.7% in 2013 (p=0.01). There is a decrease in the proportion of obese children (from 4.2% to 0.9%) and an increase in those who were overweight (from 8.5% to 18.8%).
Conclusion: Reducing the percentage of obese children in this young age most likely reflects a positive trend in the attitude towards obesity. Increasing percentage of overweight children who are potential pool of increasing obesity with age, requires serious attention in the prevention of obesity.
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