[The reduction of the number of overweight students in a Rome school after two years]

A study was conducted on children from a junior high school in Rome, Monteverde district, to observe data on hypertension and obesity. Data were compared with results from the study carried on two years ago in the same school by the same working group.

The study enrolled 336 students, 52% males and 48% females. Blood pressure was measured with Omron 2 automatic monitor, with child cuffs. Weight and height were measured with Seca scale with stadiometer. We assessed hypertension by means of recent Task Force Tables, overweight and obesity with the tables by Cole et al.

A proportion of 5% of screened children presented hypertension, 13.9% overweight, 2.3% obesity.

Prevalence of hypertension, overweight and obesity was lower than prevalence observed two years ago in the same school, thanks to a change in eating habits which included breakfast promotion, adoption of correct food choices for lunch and dinner, and most of all an increase in extracurricular sports activity, currently performed by 92% of students.