Factors Associated with Overweight and Obesity among Kuwaiti Elementary Male School Children Aged 6–10 Years

Abstract

Background. Childhood obesity is becoming a global epidemic which may result in increased morbidity and mortality during young adulthood. Objectives. To identify factors associated with overweight and that of obesity among Kuwaiti elementary male school children aged 6–10 years. Methods. Weights and heights of 662 students at a randomly selected school were collected to obtain body mass index (BMI). Results. The prevalence of overweight and obesity among the students were 20.2% and 16.8%, respectively. There were a variety of factors associated with overweight and obesity; however, having one or more obese brother, an unemployed father, or a high (>11) number of persons living at home was significantly associated with higher risk of overweight and obesity. Increased age and school level as well as having a chronic disease were associated with the risk of overweight. Conclusion. Health education programs for families should be implemented to help control overweight and obesity in Kuwaiti children.

Prevalence of childhood obesity in the state of Kuwait

“…The prevalence of obesity has risen substantially in Kuwaiti children, irrespective of growth standard classification used. Our results are higher than previously reported from Kuwait (26.5%, 14.6%, 16.8%, 23.3% and 17.4%) , suggesting a dramatic increase in total overweight in the last two decades. However, heterogeneity in research methodologies, sample size and different age stratification may limit comparability.…”

Prevalence of Obesity in School Children and Its Relation to Lifestyle Behaviors in Al-Ahsa District of Saudi Arabia

“…The prevalence of overweight and obesity increased from 16.9% at age < 9 years up to 52.1% at the age of 12 years and above. These results were consistent with those reported in another Saudi study and in several other studies in both the developed , and in the neighboring countries (Al-Isa, Campbell, & Desapriya, 2010;Mozaffari & Nabaei, 2007). This finding might be attributed to less physical activity and more access to unhealthy foods among older compared to younger children.…”

Progressive Changes in Overweight and Obesity during the Early Years of Schooling among Children in a Central Region of Saudi Arabia

“…These finding could be due to the exposure of children to an external environ ment where their diet habits changed or they were exposed to mo re fatty diets. These results are supported by the study of Al Isa [28] among Kuwaiti children of the same age group. Another study conducted in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia showed a prevalence of obesity of 10.8 among preschool children.…”

“…Kuwait (37.0 %), Qatar (23.3 %) and UA E (26.4 %) [26,27,28], countries that have undergone similar economic upturn. This aspect supports our hypothesis that advancing time has had an amplifying effect on these two factors, which is a great cause for concern and needs to be checked through effective and immed iate public health interventions.…”