title: Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity among Adolescents in Seven Arab Countries: A Cross-Cultural Study.
abstract: Objective. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents in seven Arab countries using similar reference standard. Methods. A school-based cross-sectional study was carried out in seven cities in Arab countries, namely, Algeria, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Palestine, Syria, and United Arab Emirates. A multistage stratified random sampling technique was used. The total sample included was 4698 adolescents aged from 15 to 18 years (2240 males, 2458 females). The International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) reference standard was used to classify the adolescents as nonobese, overweight, and obese. Results. Among males, overweight was highest among Kuwaiti adolescents (25.6%), followed by Jordanian (21.6%), and Syrian (19.7%) adolescents. Among females, the highest prevalence of overweight was reported in Libyan adolescents (26.6%), followed by Kuwaiti (20.8%), and Syrian (19.7%) adolescents. As for obesity, Kuwaiti adolescents showed the highest prevalence of obesity for both males (34.8%) and females (20.6%). Conclusion. There is an urgent need to establish a plan of action to combat obesity in schoolchildren in these countries.
authors.affiliation: Nutrition and Health Studies Unit, Deanship of Scientific Research, University of Bahrain and Arab Centre for Nutrition, P.O. Box 26923, Bahrain.
authors.forename: Abdulrahman O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Musaiger
authors.forename: Mariam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Mannai
authors.forename: Reema
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tayyem
authors.forename: Osama
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Al-Lalla
authors.forename: Essa Y H
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Faiza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kalam
authors.forename: Mofida M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Benhamed
authors.forename: Sabri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saghir
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Halahleh
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Djoudi
authors.forename: Manel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chirane