Abstract

Background and objective: The increase in obesity amongst adolescents is one of the most important public health concerns in many countries, including the Kingdom of Bahrain. The objective of the current study was to measure the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Bahraini adolescents. This study will aid in a better understanding of the issue and in pursuing preventive measures and campaigns to alleviate the problem.

Methods: The weight, height, and body mass index of 9057 Bahraini adolescents was obtained from the Ministry of Health via the nation-wide health electronic file—I-Seha. The final sample consisted of 8463 adolescents; of which 4687 and 3776 were female and males, respectively. References standards from the World Health Organization were used to qualify the adolescents into normal weight, underweight, overweight, obese, and morbidly obese.

Results: The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 42.3%. Among females the prevalence of overweight and obesity was 21.5% and 20.8%, respectively, whereas in males. the prevalence was 18% and 24.3%, respectively. The lowest prevalence of overweight and obesity was among males aged 15 years (36.4%) and highest among males aged 12 years (47.4%). While in females the prevalence of overweight and obesity was lowest and highest amongst 15-year-olds (38.3%) and 12-year-olds (48.5%).

Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is high in adolescents in the Kingdom of Bahrain, especially in the younger age group. This increases the urgency to undertake measures to control the problem in the younger population, in order to reduce serious outcomes.

Keywords: Adolescents, Bahrain, obesity, overweight, prevalence