Anthropometry of adolescent girls in Bahrain, including body fat distribution

To determine anthropometric measurements of adolescent Bahraini girls, including obesity and fat composition.

A cross-sectional sample of 584 Bahraini girls aged 12-19 years, were selected from schools using multistage stratified sampling procedure. Fifteen anthropometric measurements were taken (weight, height, circumferences for upper arm, upper forearm, upper chest, chest, waist, hip, thigh and medial calf, triceps, biceps, subscapular and suprailiac). Body mass index (BMI), waist/hip ratio, sum of skinfold thickness and % body fat were also computed.

The findings revealed a significant increase in all anthropometric measurements with increase in age. The mean weights for girls was higher than those reported in 1986 for the same age group, but no difference was observed in the mean heights, indicating a trend toward overweight. Using the 85th and 95th centiles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I (NHANESI) BMI distribution to define respectively overweight and obesity, the prevalence of overweight was 38.5% and of obesity was 6.3%. The means for BMI, waist/hip ratio, sum of skinfold thickness and % body fat were higher than those reported in many developed and developing countries.

Bahraini adolescent girls have a higher proportion of body fat than their counterparts in many Western countries. This may contribute to some chronic diseases in adulthood. An intervention programme, therefore, is urgently needed to reduce overweight and obesity at childhood and adolescent stages.