Variations of body mass index in Croatian school children and adolescents

The purpose of the study is to present the percentile distribution of body mass index in Zagreb school children and to assess whether it differs from those in other countries; in addition, to assess whether the values of mean BMI in Zagreb school children differ markedly from those in other regions in Croatia i.e. in Medimurje and Osijek. Data on height and weight have been derived from growth surveys organized or performed by the Andrija Stampar School of Public Health over the last decade. The results have shown the skewed distribution of data i.e. the agglomeration of high values of BMI in upper percentile positions. Percentile values of BMI for Zagreb school children were higher than the reference data for American white children and adolescents except at the upper percentile positions (85 and 95) for the older age groups. Mean values of BMI of Zagreb school boys and girls were in general higher than in their peers in other European countries. However, the means of BMI for two other groups of Croatian children--in Osijek and Medimurje--were lower. Regarding the association of overweight with risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, the results have pointed out a great importance of the respective health education programme for school children and adolescents. The presented results may also serve as a basis for a study of secular changes in variations of body mass index in the adolescent period.