Occurrence of overweight, obesity and their associated risk factors among primary school pupils in Samarra/Iraq: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To find the prevalence of overweight and obesity and the risk factors for increasing weight among young students.

Methods: The cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted during the 2018-19 academic year in Samarra, Iraq, after approval from the ethics review committee of Anbar University, Al Anbar, Iraq, and comprised primary schoolchildren aged 7-13 years regardless of gender. After collecting sociodemographic data, based on body mass index values, the children were categorised into malnourished <5th percentile, normal 5-84th percentile, overweight 85-97th percentile, and obese ≥97th percentile.