Eur J Pediatr (2012) 171:245–251 Table 2 Median values, ranges, mean values and standard deviation of weight and height in boys and girls from urban and rural areas Boys Height [cm] Weight [kg] Girls Height [cm] Weight [kg] Urban Number 549 553 Med. 140.1 35.5 138.6 33.7 Ranges 103.5–172.2 16.1–106.5 103.3–170.7 16.1–83 Mean 140.7 37.5 138.9 35.56 Med. median values, SD standard deviation gender groups and in place of residence groups. In terms of BMI, girls significantly differed from boys (p< 0.01). The differences in body mass in gender groups with respect to place of residence were not statistically significant. Mean values, median values and standard deviation of weight and height in gender groups and in place of residence groups are presented in Tables 1 and 2. Descriptive statistics of BMI in the group of boys and girls was presented in Tables 3 and 4. Median values, ranges, mean values and standard deviation were shown with respect to gender and place of residence depending on age categories of the examined children. The Wilcoxon test was used to compare BMI values in age categories with reference to place of residence. Changes were not statistically significant. On the basis of BMI values obtained in the examined group, overweight and obese children were distinguished. The classification was done following the IOTF criteria [8]. Table 5 presents overweight and obesity in boys. The results were put forward separately for urban and rural children. The prevalence of overweight in the groups of urban and rural boys is not statistically significant. A slightly higher percentage of overweight boys was observed in rural ones (28.14%). In the case of urban boys, those overweight were diagnosed in 27.31% of the examined subjects. On the other hand, obesity was observed in almost twice as high percentage of urban boys (7.78%) as in rural ones (3.52%). This difference is statistically significant (p = 0.05). The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the group of girls according to age and place of residence was shown in Table 6. A higher percentage of girls diagnosed as overweight was observed in rural areas and equalled 16.49% as opposed to 16.09% in the case of urban girls. Obesity was also prevailing in a higher number of rural girls and was 4.12% as opposed to 3.44% in urban girls. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the group of girls was not statistically significant. Med. 138.5 34 139.3 34.7 Ranges 116–177 20.8–79.6 115–169 17.7–65.3 Mean 139.8 36.7 139.8 35.18 The highest number of overweight boys was diagnosed in the group of 12-year-olds regardless of place of residence. Half of the 12-year-old rural boys were over- weight, while in the case of their urban peers the number was 48. The incidence of overweight in 12-year-olds was almost twice as high as in the remaining age groups. However, it must be mentioned that in the group of 13-year- old boys the number of overweight children decreases remarkably and totalled nine subjects. In 12-year-old rural boys, the number of obesity was also the highest and Table 3 Median values, ranges, mean values and standard deviation of BMI in all examined groups SD 13.3 11.8 14.3 11.7 Age Boys 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Girls 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Rural Number 199 194 All Number 748 33 94 108 116 103 108 137 49 747 35 83 119 97 113 134 118 48 Med. 17.87 16.46 16.59 17.46 17.34 17.87 18.56 19.49 19.28 17.39 16.05 16.00 16.18 17.14 17.42 17.84 19.05 19.21 Ranges 13.1–38.2 14.4–19.7 13.2–24.4 13.1–26.4 13.3–27.0 13.7–34.7 13.8–34.3 14.2–38.2 13.8–30.8 11.9–32.0 13.4–28.4 11.9–23.3 13.4–27.3 13.4–25.5 13.4–28.8 13.6–26.8 14.5–32.0 15.3–27.8 Mean 18.62 16.51 17.16 17.65 18.11 19.18 19.13 20.13 19.87 17.86 16.80 16.37 16.75 17.53 17.77 18.30 19.43 19.86 Med. median values, SD standard deviation 247 SD 11.6 10.9 12.5 9.63 SD 3.29 1.34 2.22 2.37 2.69 3.60 3.47 3.80 3.52 2.92 2.70 2.36 2.28 2.55 2.62 3.21 2.85 3.12