Ar. Alnuaim, POPULATION-BASED EPIDEMIOLOGIC-STUDY OF THE PREVALENCE OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY IN SAUDI-ARABIA, REGIONAL VARIATION, Annals of saudi medicine, 17(2), 1997, pp. 195-199
This is a study of the pattern of distribution of body mass index and
prevalence of overweight and obesity among the population of different
regions of Saudi Arabia. It is a cross-sectional population-based nat
ional epidemiological randomized household survey. There were 13,177 S
audi subjects, over the age of 15 years. The sample was representative
and in accordance with the national population distribution with resp
ect to age, gender, regional and residency population distribution. He
ight and weight were measured for all study population. Body mass inde
x (BMI) was calculated. WHO criteria was used for definition of overwe
ight and obesity. The obesity/overweight (ob/ow) ratio was used to stu
dy the relation between prevalence of overweight and obesity. Mean BMI
values for female subjects were significantly higher than for male su
bjects across all regions. Mean BMI values were highest at the fifth d
ecade for male and female subjects in all regions. Mean and 90th perce
ntile of BMI values of male and female subjects of the Eastern region
across all age groups were higher than for other regions. There was a
progressive increase in prevalence of overweight with age among male s
ubjects; the highest prevalence was achieved in the age group 51-60 ye
ars across all the regions. The overall prevalence of overweight was h
igher among male subjects across all the regions. There was a progress
ive increase in the prevalence of obesity with age among male and fema
le subjects. The highest was achieved in the age group of 41-50 years
across all the regions. Then was a regional variation with respect to
the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Saudi subjects. The pre
valence of overweight was higher among male subjects across all the re
gions, while the prevalence of obesity was higher among female subject
s across all the regions. A high prevalence of obesity was observed in
most of the regions. Underlying factors such as lifestyle, nutritiona
l habits, social and cultural beliefs and habits in different regions
need to be studied. There is a need to establish a national control pr
ogram for combating obesity and related complications.