Overweight and obesity among adolescents in Bahrain

A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity amongst adolescents in Bahrain. The subjects consisted of grades 1-3 secondary school students (336 males and 396 females) between the ages 15-18 years, selected using a multi-stage stratified random sampling technique from government schools from all the governorates of Bahrain, representing about 3% of the target population. The mean height in males and females ranged between 162.9-171.3 cm and 157.4-159.9 cm, respectively, while the mean weight ranged between 59-72 kg and 59-66 kg, respectively. The proportion of those underweight was higher in males (8.6%) compared to that in females (2.3%). The highest proportion of normal weight was observed at the age of 15 years in both the male and female adolescents (66.0%). The prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in female (17.4% and 19.4%) compared to the male (15.8% and 13.7%) adolescents. Although compared to previous reports, a decline in the body mass index (BMI) was observed for both the genders in Bahrain. We believe that the launch of intervention programs at a national level to educate school authorities, parents and concerned health professionals alike, is urgently required.