Epidemiological trends of obesity in children and adolescents worldwide and in the Russian Federation (systematic review)

Introduction. The prevalence of non-communicable diseases caused by malnutrition, including obesity, has reached epidemic levels by the beginning of the 21st century. Numerous studies worldwide demonstrate a high prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. However, published data are scattered, making it difficult to conduct a comparative analysis of research indicators in different regions and countries.

Aim. To conduct a systematically analyze and generalization of the results of domestic and foreign studies, data from national monitoring on the incidence of obesity in children and adolescents aged 2 to 18 years.

Materials and methods. The study material was scientific publications on the prevalence of diseases caused by malnutrition. The search for publications was carried out in the eLIBRARY.RU, CyberLeninka.ru, PubMed, and MEDLINE databases. These databases contain Russian and foreign sources of results of national, population-based epidemiological studies and meta-analysis of scientific information. A total of 57 publications from 2007 to 2025 were analyzed. Publications containing the keywords “overweight”, “obesity”, “children” and “adolescents” in the title and abstract were selected as sources of information. The inclusion criterion was that the authors had assessed the nutritional status in accordance with the methods and standards of Child Growth Standards (2006) and WHO Growth Reference (2007).

Conclusion. An analysis of published studies has shown that, despite regional variations in the prevalence of excess weight, in most countries, including the Russian Federation, the prevalence of childhood obesity continues to rise, indicating the insufficient effectiveness of preventive measures.

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