Musaiger A O, Gregory W B
Environmental and Biological Programme, Bahrain Center for Studies and Research, Manama.
Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2000 Sep;24(9):1093-6. doi: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0801371.
To study the body composition of Bahraini school children.
Cross-sectional national school survey.
School children aged 6-18y. The sample comprised 818 boys and 775 girls.
Weight, height, arm circumference and skinfold thicknesses were measured. Sum of skinfold thickness, body mass index (BMI), mid arm circumference, percentage body fat, fat weight and lean body weight were then calculated to determine body composition.
A significant difference in the sum of skinfold thickness was observed between boys and girls. The girls have almost 50% extra skinfold thickness than boys at all ages. Similar trends were found in BMI, except at ages 9 and 18y. The percentage of body fat was higher in girls than boys. The mean BMI for Bahraini girls aged 13y and above exceeds that of their American counterparts, indicating a trend towards fat accumulation in the Bahraini girls.
The data obtained are useful for monitoring obesity in school children in Bahrain as well as being usable as reference data for similar countries in the region. The high proportion of body fat among Bahraini school children, especially girls, urges an intervention program to prevent and control obesity in this age group.
研究巴林学童的身体成分。
全国性横断面学校调查。
6至18岁的学童。样本包括818名男孩和775名女孩。
测量体重、身高、上臂围和皮褶厚度。然后计算皮褶厚度总和、体重指数（BMI）、上臂中部围度、体脂百分比、脂肪重量和瘦体重，以确定身体成分。
观察到男孩和女孩的皮褶厚度总和存在显著差异。在所有年龄段，女孩的皮褶厚度比男孩几乎多50%。在BMI方面也发现了类似趋势，但9岁和18岁除外。女孩的体脂百分比高于男孩。13岁及以上的巴林女孩的平均BMI超过了美国同龄女孩，这表明巴林女孩有脂肪堆积的趋势。
所获得的数据有助于监测巴林学童的肥胖情况，也可作为该地区类似国家的参考数据。巴林学童，尤其是女孩，体内脂肪比例较高，这促使开展一项干预计划，以预防和控制该年龄组的肥胖问题。
