BMC Public Health 2009, 9:485 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/485 Table 2: Sample and population size weighted results of the anthropometric characteristics of the sample of 1942 Palestinian adolescents from Ramallah and Hebron governorates Age (years), mean (SE) Age of onset of puberty (years), mean (SE) Weight (kg), mean (SE) BMI (kg/m2), mean (SE) BMI percentile, mean (SE) BMI categories using the 2000 CDC reference Underweight % (95% CI) Overweight % (95% CI) Obesity % (95% CI) BMI categories using the IOTF criteria Overweight % (95% CI) Obesity % (95% CI) Height (cm), mean (SE) Height for age percentile, mean (SE) Stunting % (95% CI) Ramallah Totala n = 935 14.4 (0.1) 13.1 (0.1)* 53.4 (1.0) 20.7 (0.3) 53.5 (2.1) Boys n = 437 14.4 (0.1) 13.1 (0.1) 53.5 (1.8) 20.1 (0.4) 47.2 (2.4) Girls n = 498 14.4 (0.1) 13.0 (0.1) 53.3 (1.0) 21.2 (0.3) 58.6 (2.4) Hebron Totala n = 1007 Pb 0.983 14.4 (0.1) 0.226 13.3 (0.1)* 0.899 51.1 (0.7) 0.045 20.1 (0.2) 0.002 49.1 (1.8) Boys n = 458 14.3 (0.1) 13.5 (0.1) 50.1 (1.3) 19.3 (0.3) 42.0 (2.5) Girls n = 549 14.4 (0.1) 13.1 (0.1) 51.9 (0.5) 20.7 (0.2) 54.9 (1.5) 6.1 (4.4, 8.3)* 9.7 (7.7, 12.3) 3.1 (1.8, 5.3) 9.1 (7.1, 11.6)* 12.9 (9.5, 17.2) 6.0 (4.1, 8.7) 12.9 (9.7, 16.9) 9.6 (7.2, 12.7) 15.6 (10.7, 22.2) 0.005 11.2 (9.1, 13.8) 8.5 (6.0, 12.0) 13.5 (10.5, 17.1) 0.001 7.0 (4.7, 10.4) 8.2 (4.1, 15.7) 6.0 (3.9, 9.3) 4.1 (2.9, 5.8) 4.9 (2.8, 8.5) 3.4 (2.2, 5.6) 16.4 (12.9, 20.5)* 4.1 (2.4, 7.1) 160.0 (0.7) 38.1 (1.6) 13.3 (10.6, 16.5) 18.9 (13.5, 25.9) 5.2 (2.0, 12.9) 3.3 (2.1, 4.9) 0.182 13.1 (10.9, 15.7)* 2.1 (1.3, 3.4) 10.9 (7.9, 14.9) 14.9 (11.9, 18.6) 2.2 (1.1, 4.6) 2.0 (1.0, 3.9) 162.1 (1.1) 36.9 (2.6) 158.3 (0.5) 39.1 (2.1) 0.005 159.2 (0.4) 0.510 36.1 (1.2) 160.3 (0.8) 33.3 (1.7) 158.4 (0.3) 38.5 (1.3) 7.3 (5.1, 10.4) 9.2 (5.2, 15.4) 5.9 (3.9, 8.8) 0.195 6.5 (5.1, 8.3) 9.4 (7.5, 11.7) 4.2 (2.8, 6.2) < 0.001 Pb 0.273 0.015 0.206 0.001 < 0.001 0.230 0.027 0.022 SE: Standard error. BMI: body mass index, 95% CI: 95% confidence interval. CDC: Center for Disease Control and Prevention, IOTF: International Obesity Task Force. *P < 0.05 aP is for the difference between total adolescents in Ramallah governorate and total adolescents in Hebron governorates using χ2 for categorical variables and t-test for means. bP is for the difference between genders in the same governorate using χ2 for categorical variables and t-test for means. Number of adolescents who have reached puberty: boys from Ramallah = 363, girls from Ramallah = 389, boys from Hebron = 365, and girls from Hebron = 465. pared to 7.2% of the normal adolescents (p < 0.001), while 71.5% had normal weight and 7.7% were over- weight/obese (data not shown). Underweight, overweight and obesity The prevalence of underweight among adolescents was 6.1% in Ramallah and 9.1% in Hebron. In both governo- rates, the proportion being underweight was significantly higher among boys than girls (9.7% among boys versus 3.1% among girls in Ramallah and 12.9% versus 6.0%, respectively in Hebron, (P < 0.01) (Table 2). The prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in Ramallah than Hebron. Using the 2000 CDC reference, the prevalence of overweight for both genders combined was 12.9% in Ramallah and 11.2% in Hebron, while the corresponding figures for obesity were 7.0% and 4.1%, respectively. Using the IOTF criteria, the prevalence of overweight was 16.4% in Ramallah and 13.1% in Hebron, and the corresponding figures for obesity were 4.1% and 2.1%, respectively. Girls were found to be heavier than boys in both governorates. The mean BMI percentile for girls was well above the 50th percentile of the reference Page 6 of 12 (page number not for citation purposes)