Some Socioeconomic Factors and Lifestyle Habits Influencing the Prevalence of Obesity among Adolescent Male Students in the Hail Region of Saudi Arabia

• Published in: Children (Basel) Vol. 5; no. 3; p. 39
• Main Authors: Alazzeh, Awfa Y, AlShammari, Eyad M, Smadi, Majdi M, Azzeh, Firas S, AlShammari, Bandar T, Epuru, Suneetha, Banu, Shahidah, Bano, Rafia, Sulaiman, Shadi, Alcantara, Jerold C, Ashraf, Syed A, Qiblawi, Samir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI 09.03.2018; MDPI AG
• Subjects: hail region; lifestyle habits; male adolescents; obesity; socioeconomic factors; socioeconomic factors; hail region; male adolescents; lifestyle habits; obesity
• ISSN: 2227-9067; 2227-9067
• DOI: 10.3390/children5030039

A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the effect of some socioeconomic factors and lifestyle habits on the prevalence of obesity among adolescent male students in the Hail region, Saudi Arabia. A questionnaire was filled by 1495 male adolescents distributed among 12 schools in the Hail region. Body weight and height were taken, and the -score of students was measured using Anthroplus software with a cutoff 1-2 and +2 standard deviations to determine overweight and obesity, respectively. The study revealed that 21.3% of students were overweight and 27% were obese, respectively. There was a negative association between family size of >8 and obesity (OR: 0.68, CI: 0.48-0.92, = 0.05). Family income of <5000 SR was negatively associated with obesity (OR: 0.59, CI: 0.36-0.97, = 0.03). Whether a subject's mother worked (odds ratio (OR): 1.43, confidence interval CI: 1.03-1.99, = 0.03) as well as the subject's mother's education-whether she can read and write, has a middle school degree, or has done postsecondary studies-were positively associated with obesity. Exercise, regardless of the duration, was negatively associated with obesity. In addition, sleeping <6 h/day had a positive association with obesity. a >8 family size and a low family income were negatively associated with obesity, while having an educated and working mother was positively associated with obesity.