Eur J Pediatr (2012) 171:245–251 DOI 10.1007/s00431-011-1519-1 ORIGINAL PAPER Prevalence of overweight and obesity in children aged 6–13 years—alarming increase in obesity in Cracow, Poland Aneta Bac & Renata Woźniacka & Stanislaw Matusik & Joanna Golec & Edward Golec Received: 15 April 2011 / Accepted: 14 June 2011 / Published online: 7 July 2011 # The Author(s) 2011. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract This study in children aged 6–13 years (n=1,499) was performed between October 2008 and March 2009. Height and weight measurements were taken to calculate BMI. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was determined by means of IOTF cut-offs with respect to age. Alarming is the fact that the percentage of obese children in Cracow increased dramatically from 1.04% in boys and 0.20% in girls in 1971 to 7% in boys and 3.6% in girls in 2009. In this report, a higher percentage of overweight boys was observed in rural boys (28.14%) than in urban ones (27.31%). Obesity was identified in an almost twice as high percentage of urban boys (7.78%) as in rural ones (3.52%). A higher percentage of overweight girls was registered in rural areas (16.49%) than in urban ones (16.09%). Obesity was prevailing in rural girls (4.12%) relative to their urban counterparts (3.44%). The highest number of overweight A. Bac : J. Golec : E. Golec Orthopedics Rehabilitation Department, Faculty of Motor Rehabilitation, The Bronisław Czech University of Physical Education, Kraków, Poland R. Woźniacka (*) Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Motor Rehabilitation, The Bronisław Czech University of Physical Education, Al. Jana Pawła II 78, 31–571 Kraków, Poland e-mail: renatawozniacka@wp.pl S. Matusik Statistic and Computer Science Division, The Bronisław Czech University of Physical Education, Kraków, Poland E. Golec Traumatic Surgery and Orthopedics Clinic, 5th Military Clinical Hospital and Policlinic, Independent Public Healthcare Facility, Kraków, Poland urban boys was diagnosed in the group of 12-year-olds (n=48) and rural boys in the group of 10-year-olds (n=39), as well as in urban girls aged 11 (n=17) and rural girls aged 9 (n=9). The highest number of obesity was observed in rural boys aged 12 (n=3) and in urban boys aged 9 and 10 (n=9 in both groups). In the group of girls, obesity prevailed in urban 9-year-olds (n=5) and in rural 7-year-olds (n=5). Conclusions: Overweight and obesity affect boys almost twice as frequently as girls. Obesity is twice as frequent in urban boys as in their rural peers. Keywords Children . Overweight . Obesity . Urban . Rural Introduction The prevalence of adult overweight and obesity has been increasing all over the world. This tendency has been observed for over 30 years [14]. In the United States, in the years 1980 and 2002, the number of obese people above 20 years of age doubled [18]. In Thailand, in the period 1991–2004, the incidence of overweight in adult men increased from 13% to 22.4%, whereas in women the value rose from 23.2% to 34.3% [1]. Unfortunately, the problem of progressive overweight and obesity affects children as well. In the United States, in the years 1980–2002, the prevalence of overweight in children and adolescents tripled [18]. In Germany, the data collected in the years 1985–1997 (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Adipositas im Kindesund Jugendalter 2000) show that the prevalence of overweight in children increased twice [14]. Subsequently, German children and adolescent health surveys (KIGGS 2006) carried out in children aged 3–17 years revealed the prevalence of overweight in 15% of the examined cases out of which 6.3% were diagnosed as obese [14]. In