Abdulrahman O. Musaiger, Arab Center for Nutrition, Bahrain.
Mariam Al-Mannai, Department of Mathematic, College of Science, University of Bahrain, Bahrain.
Pak J Med Sci. 2014 May;30(3):497-500. doi: 10.12669/pjms.303.4796.
Obesity has become one of the main public health problems worldwide. Childhood obesity rate is growing very fast in both developed and developing countries. This paper aimed to explore the prevalence of overweight and obesity among school children aged 10-13 years in Bahrain, and to find out the difference in this prevalence when using two international standards.
A multistage stratified sampling procedure was used to select 2146 students (1068 males, 1078 females) from public schools in Bahrain. Weight and height were measured and Body Mass Index for age and sex was calculated to determine the obesity levels. Both International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) and World Health Organization (WHO) references were used to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity.
The findings revealed that the prevalence of overweight and obesity ranged from 15.7% to 28.9% among males and from 21.1% to 30.7% among females. The WHO reference standard provided higher prevalence of overweight and obesity than IOTF reference.
The study confirmed that obesity is a problem of concern in Bahraini school children and calls for intervention programme to combat obesity in schools. However, the standard used to determine obesity levels should be carefully selected and interpreted.
肥胖已成为全球主要公共卫生问题之一。在发达国家和发展中国家，儿童肥胖率增长迅速。本文旨在探讨巴林地区 10-13 岁学龄儿童超重和肥胖的流行情况，并比较两种国际标准在该流行情况评估中的差异。
采用多阶段分层抽样方法，从巴林公立学校中选取 2146 名学生（男生 1068 名，女生 1078 名）。测量体重和身高，并计算年龄和性别对应的身体质量指数，以确定肥胖水平。同时使用国际肥胖工作组（IOTF）和世界卫生组织（WHO）标准来确定超重和肥胖的流行率。
研究结果显示，男生的超重和肥胖流行率在 15.7%至 28.9%之间，女生的流行率在 21.1%至 30.7%之间。与 IOTF 参考标准相比，WHO 参考标准提供了更高的超重和肥胖流行率。
该研究证实肥胖是巴林学龄儿童关注的问题，并呼吁在学校开展干预项目以应对肥胖问题。然而，在确定肥胖水平时应仔细选择和解释所使用的标准。
