High prevalence of the risk of overweight and overweight among Qatari children ages 9 through 11
الملخص
Purpose – The 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/approach – A 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.
Findings – Weight, 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/value – This 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.
المجموعات
- العلوم الصحية - كلية الآداب والعلوم (قبل 2016) [152 items ]
- الرياضيات والإحصاء والفيزياء [726 items ]