One-Third of San Mateo County Students Overweight, Report Finds

One-third of fifth, seventh and ninth graders in San Mateo County were considered overweight or obese in 2002 and 2003, according to the San Mateo County Children's Report, released Wednesday, the Oakland Tribune reports. More than 40% of minority students were considered obese, according to the report. However, the report found that county children were more fit than they were in 1998 and 1999 (Mills-Faraudo, Oakland Tribune, 3/25).

Dozens of San Mateo agencies contribute information for the report, which is issued every three years by the Peninsula Partnership for Children, Youth and Families (Wykes, San Jose Mercury News, 3/23).

Anand Chabra -- county director of maternal, child and adolescent health -- said, "For our lower-income children, we're doing worse than the state for childhood obesity." He added, "We have children with type 2 diabetes, which used to never be the case. We're going to have a huge percentage of the population with diabetes if this continues."

The report also noted that the county's student-to-nurse ratio -- 4,022 students for every nurse -- is much higher than the suggested ratio of 750 students for every nurse.

The report also found that the teen birth rate dropped by 39% between 1996 and 2003 for teenagers ages 15 to 19 (Oakland Tribune, 3/25). The report is available online. Note: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to access the report.