Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Saudi children and adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
There is limited information on overweight and obesity in Saudi children and adolescents. The objective of this study was to establish the national prevalence of overweight and obesity in Saudi children and adolescents.


METHODS
The 2005 Saudi reference data set was used to calculate the body mass index (BMI) for children aged 5 to 18 years. Using the 2007 WHO reference, the prevalence of overweight, obesity and severe obesity were defined as the proportion of children with a BMI standard deviation score more than +1, +2 and +3, respectively. The 2000 CDC reference was also used for comparison.


RESULTS
There were 19 317 healthy children and adolescents from 5 to 18 years of age, 50.8% of whom were boys. The overall prevalence of overweight, obesity and severe obesity in all age groups was 23.1%, 9.3% and 2%, respectively. A significantly lower prevalence of overweight (23.8 vs 20.4; P<.001) and obesity (9.5 vs 5.7; P<.001) was found when the CDC reference was used.


CONCLUSIONS
This report establishes baseline national prevalence rates for overweight, obesity and severe obesity in Saudi children and adolescents, indicating intermediate levels between developing and industrialized countries. Measures should be implemented to prevent further increases in the numbers of overweight school-age children and adolescents and the associated health hazards.
El Mouzan
Mohammad I
MI
Department of Pediatrics, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. drmouzan@gmail.com
Foster
Peter J
PJ
Al Herbish
Abdullah S
AS
Al Salloum
Abdullah A
AA
Al Omer
Ahmad A
AA
Qurachi
Mansour M
MM
Kecojevic
Tatjana
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012529:Saudi Arabia / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires