Prevalence of Overweight, Obesity, and Dietary Behaviors among Adolescents in Dubai Schools: A Complex Design Survey 2019

Abstract

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Overweight and obesity in adolescence have become a public health challenge. Health effects due to overweight and obesity appear during adolescence and continue into adulthood. Modifiable factors associated with overweight and obesity include unhealthy dietary behaviors and lack of exercise. Assessment of the prevalence of overweight and obesity and unhealthy dietary behaviors is essential to plan for preventive programs at the population level. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of overweight, obesity, and unhealthy dietary behaviors among adolescents of grades 8–12 in Dubai schools, 2019. <b><i>Method:</i></b> The Adolescents Risk Behavioral Survey (ARBS) is a 2-stage stratified cluster study. The 1st stage involved randomly selecting schools with a probability proportional to the size and the 2nd stage was randomly selecting classes, and all students in the selected classes were invited to participate; the total participants were 1,683 adolescents from grades 8–12 from 28 private and government schools. Students answered a self-administrated electronic questionnaire. Anthropometric measures including height and weight were assessed by a trained school nurse. Body mass index was calculated and classified according to World Health Organization (WHO) growth charts for sex and age. Data were analyzed with adjustment for weight, primary sampling unit, and stratum. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Among the adolescents of Dubai schools studying in grades 8–12, the prevalence of overweight was 25.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 22.7–28.2) and obesity was 15% (95% CI: 13.0–18.9). Overweight did not vary between male and female students, but obesity was higher among male students 19.9% (95% CI: 15.4–25.1) than female students 11.8% (95% CI: 8.7–15.6) (<i>p</i> = 0.0261). Age and grade were not found to be associated with overweight or obesity. The prevalence of unhealthy dietary behaviors was common. Examining dietary habits from 30 days prior to the survey, 21.3% of adolescents (95% CI: 17.2–26.1) reported not eating fruits and 19.7% (95% CI: 15.7–24.4) not eating vegetables. With regard to consuming dairy, 3.3% of adolescents (95% CI: 10.9–16.1) did not drink milk or consume dairy products in the 7 days prior to the survey, 31% of adolescents (95% CI: 26.8–35.5) consumed a carbonated drink daily, and 18.4% did not eat breakfast on all 7 days during and before the survey. Eating fast food was high among adolescents as 78.9% reported eating fast food one or more days in the week preceding the survey. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> School programs for overweight and obesity need further strengthening and to extend their scope to outside of the school community.