Obesity and its associated risk factors among school-aged children in Sharjah, UAE

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 6; p. e0234244
• Main Authors: Abduelkarem, Abduelmula R, Sharif, Suleiman I, Bankessli, Farah G, Kamal, Sherin A, Kulhasan, Nahed M, Hamrouni, Amar M, Siegel, Robert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 05.06.2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Age; Biology and Life Sciences; Body mass; Body mass index; Body measurements; Body size; Body weight; Calories; Candy; Child health; Childhood; Childhood obesity; Children; Confectionery; Diseases; Eating behavior; Elementary school students; Epidemics; Ethics; Exercise; Fast food; Food; Food and nutrition; Food consumption; Food habits; Gender; Genetics; Health aspects; Lifestyles; Meals; Medicine and Health Sciences; Obesity; Overweight; Parents & parenting; Pediatric research; Pharmacy; Polls & surveys; Population studies; Prevention; Questionnaires; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Schools; Social Sciences; Socioeconomic factors; Studies; Surveys; Television; Time; Type 2 diabetes; Weight control; United Arab Emirates; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234244

The most prevalent nutritional disorders worldwide are childhood overweight or obesity. Various factors clearly contribute to the childhood obesity epidemic. The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of childhood obesity in children of primary schools, and determine the influence of eating behavior and lifestyle in such a condition. The study based on a cross sectional survey including school children aged 6-11 years. Pupils were from different schools in Sharjah, UAE. Outcome measures used in this study covered health characteristics; child habits and lifestyle; disease status and medication. The number of pre-validated surveys distributed was 932 and those returned counted to 678, giving a response rate of 72.8%. More than half (379; 55.9%) of the participants were females and 191 (28.2%) of the children were obese or overweight. Almost one quarter (162; 23.9%) of the children was physically inactive. Additionally, candy and fast food consumption was significantly high (370; 54.6%) and (324; 47.8%) respectively. Participant's food, age and time spent on TV were significantly associated with body mass index (BMI). Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Emirate of Sharjah is high in both genders and across all ages of the study population. Contributing factors may include; sedentary lifestyle, consumption of unhealthy food and family history. There is a need for an immediate attention and measures to reduce the prevalence of obesity and associated diseases.