The prevalence of hepatitis B carrier state in Khorassan province of Iran.

is 3.9%, 10.9%, and 5.7% at 6.5, 13.5 and 17.5 years of age in comparison with their age matched children whose BMI 0.7%, 2.2% and 0.8%. This may be related to the lack of activity among Jordanian school boys living in the urban region and the tendency to stay at home where an increased amount of time is being spent viewing television as a pastime and less time spent in sport activities. It has been reported that decreasing television, videotape and video game use may be a promising population-based approach to prevent childhood obesity. 7 It is open to question if large size is advantageous. Although in the recent past, the best nutrition has often been equated with the most food that can be obtained, it is now accepted that too much may be harmful as too little. 8 As these schools are open to all sectors of the population, we have no reason to believe that our children are different from the rest of school children in the country. It is hoped that the present study will encourage the health authorities in Jordan to conduct national growth studies in the country aiming towards constructing national standards for growth of Jordanian children to replace the international reference growth charts in current use. In conclusion, the study has shown that there is a higher poverty in the Badia region and there was a tendency for boys in urban regions to be obese. Thus, by improving the socioeconomic conditions, family planning, health education regarding obesity and genetic education with regards to consanguinity, our children may grow better to achieve their genetic potentials for growth.