Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity: Research Question One
The first research question asked: ‘What is the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Kuwaiti school children aged 11–14 years old?’ The results from the first phase (items, child’s height, weight, age and gender) indicate that the prevalence of overweight and obesity, based on the BMI measurements drawn from the sample of 635 children aged 11–14, was 25.5% (N = 162) of the children were overweight, comprising a quarter of the entire sample, of which 46.9% (N = 76) were male (76) and 53.1% (N =86) were female. Over one third of the participants, 36.5% (N = 232), were classified as obese, of which 48.3% (N = 112) were male and 51.7% (N = 120) were female. The results also show there was no significant difference between female and male children in terms of the prevalence of overweight and obesity, with an almost negligible effect size of 0.02%.
The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents has been reported previously in Kuwait (Musaiger et al., 2012; Ng, Zaghloul, Ali, Harrison, & Popkin, 2011). However, after comparing the results of the current study with recent and previous studies conducted in Kuwait, the rate of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents is higher and is getting worse with no signs of improvement (Al-Haifi et al., 2013; Al-Isa, Campbell, & Desapriya, 2010; El-Bayoumy et al., 2009; Zaghloul et al., 2013). For example, in 2010 the prevalence of overweight and obesity among school children was 20.2% and 16.8%, respectively (Al-Isa, Campbell, & Desapriya, 2010), while a recent study conducted by Al-Haifi et al. (2013) among adolescents shows that 50.5% of boys and 46.5% of girls were overweight or obese. Similarly, the current study’s findings show that one quarter of the surveyed children, 25.5% (N = 162), were overweight and over one third of the participants, 36.5% (N = 232), were classified as obese. Also, the current study was able to include all Kuwaiti provinces to make these findings representative of all Kuwaiti children.
In relation to Kuwait’s Middle Eastern neighbouring countries, studies on the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents in the UAE revealed that 14.7% were overweight and 18.9% were obese (Al Junaibi, Abdulle, Sabri, Hag-Ali, & Nagelkerke, 2012); in Saudi Arabia 23% of children were overweight and 9.3% were obese; (Al Shehri, Al Fattani, & Al Alwan, 2013); in Qatar 32.78% of girls and 31.71% of boys were overweight or obese (Rizk & Yousef, 2012). However, Kuwait ranked among the highest of the Arab-speaking countries for the prevalence of overweight and obesity (Musaiger et al., 2012; Ng, Zaghloul, Ali, Harrison, & Popkin, 2011).
The prevalence of overweight and obesity was also reported in developed countries such as the US, where 17.3% of school children were reported as overweight and 19.4% as obese (Moreno et al., 2013). In European countries, 15.6% of children were overweight and 4.9% were obese (Olaya et al., 2015). In Australia, 22.9% and 23.2% of children and adolescents were overweight or obese, respectively, in 2003 (Martin et al., 2014).
It has also been found that the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents in developing countries is growing at a faster rate than developed countries and is reaching alarming figures. The WHO (2015a) stated that the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children was 30% higher in developing countries than developed countries. Gupta, Goel, Shah and Misra (2012) attributed this to rapidly changing eating practices and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle that was common in developing countries. Further, Misra and Khurana (2008) indicated that increasing urbanisation, a reduction in physical activity and nutrition transition in developing countries have contributed to an increase in the prevalence of obesity in children and adults.
