High prevalence of the risk of overweight and overweight among Qatari children ages 9 through 11

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to estimate the prevalence of the risk of overweight and overweight in Qatari children ages 9 through 11 and to compare the prevalence using CDC and IOTF cut‐offs.Design/methodology/approachA cross‐sectional study in a randomly selected sample of 1,213 Qatari children was carried out. Weight and height were measured and BMI was calculated for all children. The risk of overweight and overweight were defined using as references both the CDC BMI percentiles for age and gender and IOTF cut‐off values.FindingsWeight, height, and BMI increased with age and differences were significant (p<0.0001). According to the CDC and IOTF references, the overall prevalence of the risk of overweight affected 15.8 and 21.1 per cent respectively, while overweight was prevalent in 21.8 and 17.7 per cent respectively. Using either reference, the prevalence of the risk of overweight was higher among girls compared with boys (22.4 per cent, 19.4 per cent respectively), while overweight was higher among boys than among girls (20.6 per cent, 15.5 per cent respectively) but the differences were not statistically significant for both.Originality/valueThis study focused on children aged 9‐11 years, which represents a transition period between childhood and adolescence. Studying overweight in childhood is important since identification of children who may become obese adults can facilitate early intervention and avoidance of the morbidity and mortality associated with adult obesity. Limited studies on the prevalence of overweight have been conducted in Qatar.

Association of lipid profile and waist circumference as cardiovascular risk factors for overweight and obesity among school children in Qatar

“…The results of this study are similar to those of a recent study by Kerkadi et al, which reported a prevalence of overweight and obesity by age of 33.2%, 33.5%, and 44.7% for boys and 37.0%, 38.9% and 43.3% for girls aged 9, 10, and 11 years using IOTF references, respectively 15. Other studies among adolescents in Qatar report a high risk of overweight and obesity 14.…”

“…To date, there are currently no data evaluating cardiovascular risk in terms of associations of overweight and obesity with the lipid profile and intra-abdominal fat assessed by waist circumference among Qatari schoolchildren. Several recent studies have addressed the prevalence of pediatric obesity in Qatar without addressing its association with important health issues, such as development of cardiovascular disease in adulthood 13–15. This study extends our recent work, which has demonstrated a significant prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its associated features among overweight and obese children 16.…”

“…A total of 315 children were enrolled in the study, representing nearly 1% of Qatari students enrolled in primary schools. To construct our sampling frame, schools were sampled from the Doha region using previously published information from the Ministry of Education 13,15. Only three of the six public primary schools randomly selected from the list of primary public schools consented to participate in the study.…”

Longitudinal growth of infants in Qatar: Comparison with WHO and CDC growth standards

“…In addition, obesity in childhood frequently tracks into adulthood [13,18]. Childhood obesity and overweight is common in children and adolescents in Qatar [19][20][21].…”

Potential Nutrigenomic Approaches to Reduce the High Incidence of Obesity in Qatar

“…The young population is extremely affected, as well. A cross sectional study of 1213 Qatari children (683 girls and 530 boys) aged 9-11 years old showed that the prevalence of overweight and obesity affected 21.1% and 17.7%, respectively [22]. In another study, Bener and Kamal [23] reported that the overall prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents was 19.8% and 4.3%, respectively [23].…”