The prevalence and selected determinants of overweight and obesity among children and adolescent in the city of Al-Ain, UAE

Title of thesis: The Prevalence and Selected Determinants of Overweight and Obesity Among Children and Adolescent in the City of Al-Ain, UAE Reem Al-Shamsi, Master of Science, 2008 Thesis Directed by: Dr. Robert Jackson Department of Nutrition & Food Science Background: Obesity is a serious epidemic that is increasing rapidly worldwide, especially in developing countries. The global prevalence of overweight children ages 5 to 17 years is 10%. Obesity is one of the most important health concerns of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government, with the prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity becoming a major problem. The prevalence of obesity in the UAE is associated with the rapid increase of wealth and the dramatic impact of economic development during the oil boom in the 1930s. Studies show that adult obesity can be predicted from childhood obesity. Therefore, the increase in childhood and adolescent obesity may play an important role in the increasing occurrence of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in adults, which are the leading causes of death in the UAE. Consequently, an urgent need exists for health care practitioners and researchers to target the problem of child/adolescent obesity in the UAE. Objective: the aim of the study is to determine the occurrence of childhood obesity in the city of Al-Ain by comparing two BMI references, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth cut-offs and the other from the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) with various factors associated with overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. Method: data were obtained by the Nutrition Research and Surveys Program (NRSP) of Al-Ain Health Administration from 10 schools in Al-Ain for both male and female students ages from 8 to 16 years. The total sample size is 1182 children and adolescents, representing 575 girls and 607 boys’ schoolchildren. BMI were compared using two different reference standards CDC 2000 and IOTF. Data were analyzed using frequencies, means, chi-square, independent t test, ANOVA, and correlation. Results: our findings indicate that the prevalences of overweight and obesity when using CDC cut-offs were 12% boys; 12.7% girls and 14% boys ; 13.6% girls, respectively. When using the IOTF cut-offs, the prevalence of overweight is 14.5% boys and 17.6% girls; however, the prevalence of obesity is 9.6% in boys and 12.9% girls. The differences between two references are evident. There were significant differences in IOTF cut offs between boys and girls, but not significant for CDC. BMI was correlated significantly with age. There was no relationship between children’s BMI and socioeconomic status in our study. Conclusion: overweight and obesity are prevalent in Al-Ain city and underweight seems to be another public health problem among schoolchildren. There is no consensus about which cut-offs used for international schoolchildren. Because the IOTF cut-offs average cut-offs from six different countries, it is suggested for Al-Ain schoolchildren until UAE health authorities develop UAE standard. THE PREVALENCE AND SELECTED DETERMINANTS OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBSEITY AMONG CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT IN THE CITY OF AL-AIN, UAE