Overweight and Obesity Among School Children in Jordan: Prevalence and Associated Factors

Abstract

While the prevalence of overweight was high among Jordanian children compared with that in the neighboring countries, the prevalence of obesity was lower.

Prevalence and Correlates of Overweight and Obesity among School Children in Sohag, Egypt

“…As regards the prevalence of overweight among school children in the Arab countries, our results are consistent with [9] and [10] in Saudi, [11] in Jordan and [12] in Qatar. On the other hand, our results were much lower than [13] in Kuwait.…”

Review of the nutrition situation in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

“…The growing epidemic of childhood obesity is a major public health concern, given that paediatric obesity has been shown to track into adulthood and predict a broad range of metabolic and psychological adverse health effects (152,153). Studies of the association of childhood obesity with socioeconomic, dietary and lifestyle factors have highlighted the following risk factors: higher socioeconomic status (154,155); urban residence (156); parental obesity (154,157), maternal BMI (155,158); television viewing (154); high sugar intake (155); high fat intake (155,156); high frequency of consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and of fast foods (156,159); low consumption of vegetables, fruit and dairy products (156); and high frequency of eating out (156,160). Given the established link between paediatric obesity, the consumption of high-energy, high-sugar, high-fat foods and the marketing of such foods to children, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Region has recently released a regional nutrient profiling model designed for use by governments for the purposes of restricting food marketing to children (161).…”

The Effect of Socioeconomic Status, Number of Siblings and Parental of Education on Children’ Body Mass Index at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: Cross Sectional Study

“…Another study was done on 1072 children in Saudi Arabia, 14.9% out of them were obese, 95% of the obese children having high family income [9]. A Jordanian study was done on 2131 children; it reported a significant relation between obesity and being overweight with high family income in 19.4% and 5.6% respectively [10]. On the other hand, a study conducted in United State of America showed that family income and childhood obesity are negatively correlated in general, as for children in very low-income families are positively correlated and significant among high-BMI children [11].…”