title: Overweight and obesity among adolescents in Bahrain.
abstract: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity amongst adolescents in Bahrain. The subjects consisted of grades 1-3 secondary school students (336 males and 396 females) between the ages 15-18 years, selected using a multi-stage stratified random sampling technique from government schools from all the governorates of Bahrain, representing about 3% of the target population. The mean height in males and females ranged between 162.9-171.3 cm and 157.4-159.9 cm, respectively, while the mean weight ranged between 59-72 kg and 59-66 kg, respectively. The proportion of those underweight was higher in males (8.6%) compared to that in females (2.3%). The highest proportion of normal weight was observed at the age of 15 years in both the male and female adolescents (66.0%). The prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in female (17.4% and 19.4%) compared to the male (15.8% and 13.7%) adolescents. Although compared to previous reports, a decline in the body mass index (BMI) was observed for both the genders in Bahrain. We believe that the launch of intervention programs at a national level to educate school authorities, parents and concerned health professionals alike, is urgently required.
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Bahrain.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bader
authors.forename: Abdulrahman O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Musaiger
authors.forename: Khaldoon
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Al-Roomi
authors.forename: Reshma
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: D'Souza
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001445:Bahrain; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology