title: Prevalence of obesity among Arab school children in Nazareth, Israel: comparison with national (Jewish) and international data.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lack of published data. Absence of Ethnic specific data. Lack of focus on obesity prevention in Arab schools.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  First set of data on obesity for Arab children. Data will be used as reference data. Alert health/school official for intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Objective The objective is to produce the first set of obesity prevalence data and use the data as reference values of body mass index (BMI) trends for Arab children in Israel and compare with Jewish and international data. Methods A prevalence study was carried out in 2009 in which 4130 children aged 6-12, were selected from eight Arab sector schools representing the Nazareth Municipality. Height, weight and BMI measurements were obtained and presented by age, mean age, size, weight, gender and percentile. Appropriate epidemiological and statistical methods used for comparison. Results The obesity and overweight prevalence rates in Arab children by age ranges from 0% to 2.6% and 0% to 11.2%, respectively. Comparison with international and Jewish data revealed differences in almost all age groups but higher rates in Arabs, especially boys. Discussion The higher rates/trends in Arab children may be explained by more Arab women entering the workforce, increase in single-parent families and changes in food and physical activity environments. Conclusion Based on our data, we recommend either an ethnic-specific BMI reference curves and/or inclusion of Arab data in the Israeli data system. Research need to focus on reasons for the increase and interventions to reverse/slow the trend.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Surgery, Rabin Medical Center- Campus Golda, the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ram
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Marcus
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Joubran
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Abdo
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Asal
mesh_terms: D018912:Arabs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007585:Jews / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D015995:Prevalence; D011634:Public Health; D012016:Reference Values; D012574:Schools
keywords: Arab children; international data; obesity; overweight