School screening program in kingdom of Bahrain : obesity and overweight outcome

Abstract EN

Background and objective: Overweight and obesity is one of the most common chronic disorders among adolescents and in adulthood.

Obese adolescents are more likely to have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high blood glucose levels and be at a higher risk for cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes.

The aim of this article is to describe the anthropometric status of males and females, aged between 10 and 12 years, based on data collected during pre-intermediate school entrance examination, between 2012 and 2014.

Recent researches on this aspect are few, which create the need for establishing the updated studies as an outcome of school screening program in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Setting: Primary health care centers in Bahrain.

Methods: A retrospective review of the records of all the students, attending pre-intermediate school entrance examination, between January 2012 and December 2014, was conducted.

Body mass index was calculated for each individual, and the World Health Organization 2007 references were used to estimate the prevalence of overweight, obesity, underweight and stunting.

Logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with overweight and obesity.

Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 21.7 % and 22.5 %, respectively.

Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that, belonging to a younger age group, and lack of physical activity, were the only factors significantly associated with overweight and obesity in our study.

The problems of underweight and stunting were less common, with a prevalence of 3.3 % (95 % CI: 2.7, 4.0 %) and 4.2 % (95 % CI: 3.5, 5.0), respectively.

Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents has reached an unprecedented high level, which necessitates an immediate intervention, to halt this increase.

Under-nutrition is still an important health issue among adolescents in Bahrain and needs to be tackled, appropriately.