Obesity among School Going Children and Adolescents in Saudi Arabia - Research Proposal Example

Prevalence of Obesity among School going Children and adolescents in Saudi Arabia – A Research Study Prevalence of Obesity among School going Children and adolescents in Saudi Arabia – A Research Study Student’s Name University Name Professor Name Subject Abstract Now, in the 21st Century, Obesity has become a major health issue for higher-income nations. Various past empirical studies have found that there is a high incidence of obesity and overweight among school going kids and adolescents in Saudi Arabia. If unchecked, the obesity and overweight among children could be triggered to a major health issue for the Saudi Arabian government in the near future as it will increase its spending on the healthcare benefits to its citizens. As the medical treatment to its citizens will be costing much for the Saudi government exchequer, it is wise to adopt prevention better than cure policy. Saudi government should pay top attention to the public health and clinical medicine to prevent the obesity and overweight among school children and adolescents. Introduction Unhealthy dietary practices, physical inactiveness and self-imposed sleeplessness are regarded the major causes for the obesity among school children all over the world. About 10% of school kids in the age of 5-17 were suffering from overweight and about 2 to 3% of them were found to be obese internationally in 2004. Following Table shows the projected incidence of overweight school kids in 2010 around the world. (Waters, Swinburn, Seidell &Uauy, 2011). Region Obese “Overweight (Including Obese)” Americas 15% 46% “Middle East & N.Africa” 12% 42% “Europe & Erstwhile USSR” 10% 38% West Pacific 7% 27% “South East Asia” 5% 23% Africa >1% >5% (“Source-Wang and Lobstein”) If we analyses the above table, we can understand the child obesity is the major concern in Middle East as it occupies the second place in the global child obesity figures. In recent years, obesity among school children and adolescent has attained epidemic scale in Saudi Arabia. The causes for obesity may be attributed to lifestyle, genetic and demographic factors. The main objective of this research essay will be to make a research about the obesity among school students and young people in Saudi Arabia, what are the causes for the same, the prevention measures by researching into the various previous empirical studies made on the subject. “Aims and Objectives” Childhood obesity is a serious health issue as it culminates into adulthood obese later and ends in higher risk of chronic diseases. If unattended, it may end up in various diseases like type 2 diabetes mellitus, impaired glucose tolerance, cardiovascular diseases, poor-self esteem, disturbed quality of life and depression. Past empirical studies carried over in Saudi Arabia about the obesity among school children were restricted to male children that too from a single city or province. There is no definite data available on the national level about the obesity among school children in Saudi Arabia as of date. The main aim of this research study is to prove the existence of obesity and overweight with adequate evidence and recommendations to prevent the same in the near future. Methodology This research will use the secondary data, particularly, the past empirical studies made on the subject to address the research question. As per Cowton (1998), employing secondary data will be having many advantages as the primary data are either costly, biased or in a majority of cases, it is inaccessible. Though, the theoretical study and empirical research are indeed diverse in nature, but they can also be harmonizing as theoretical study always trailing by empirical research so as to offer support for the theories and ideas engendered by the theoretical study. This research will rely on government published data, publicly available data from past empirical studies, data from books and journals. By analyzing the various data published in the past empirical studies, this research study will try to address the research questions and hypothesis. (Andrew et al, 2011, p.9). Literature Review Employing various BMI cut-points, children are classified as obese or overweight for screening or population surveillance objectives. Deep evaluations are needed to assess if adolescents and children with BMI –for-age >95th percentile are really overfat and have a risk for health disorders. (O’Dea & Eriksen, 2010, p.10). As per an empirical study carried over by El-Hamsi et al., in Saudi Arabia in 2011, it was found that there were about 13% obese and 11% overweight children among male and female 1 to 18 years of aged children. Further, the existence of obese and oversight was predominantly higher among girls as compared to boys and also among Saudi youths, the overweight and obese is increasing by age between ten to eighteen years. (Al-Shamsi, 2012, p.11). As per Garrow & Summerbell study conducted in 1995 found that the incidence of obesity among male school going children in Saudi Arabia was estimated at 15.8% (WHO, 2000, p.32). In several empirical studies, higher levels of overweight have been observed in the Middle East Regions. In a survey carried in 1994-1998 in Saudi Arabia, about 18% of school going children in the age of 1-18 was suffering from obesity. By employing a percentage of body-fat measure, a study conducted in the Central Saudi Arabia found that obesity rates have increased substantially among the school boys in the age between 6-14 years from just 3% in 1998 to a whooping figure of 25% in 2005. (Al-Hazzaa, 2007, p.1569). The study carried on by EI Mouzan et al., in 2010 found that there was baseline prevalence rates for severe obesity, and overweight among Saudi school going children and adolescents thereby signifying intermediate levels between industrialized and developing nations. The above study was carried over among 19,317 healthy adolescents and the school going children from the age five to eighteen years where about half of them were boys. “The study found that 23.1% of Saudi children are affected from overweight, about 9.3% are affected from obesity and 2% are affected from severe obesity. (El Mouzan MI et al., 2010, p.205).” Khalid Mel H in 2008 carried over a study on 912 adolescents, and school children aged 6 to 15 who were born and residing at hilly stations and about 972 children who were born and residing at low altitudes and found that there were 10% of overall existence of obesity and overweight among all children irrespective of the fact, whether they are residing at low or high altitudes. The above confirmed that there is prevalence of obesity and overweight among school children in Saudi Arabia. The study also found that obesity has the high risk factor in high altitudes in Saudi Arabia, and it acts as an independent factor. The above study also concludes that further research is needed to assess the accurate mechanism by which a higher-altitude atmosphere may result in to childhood obesity and overweight. (Mel-H, 2008, p.263). The AI-Saeed WY et al. carried over a study to assess the socioeconomic factors and the prevalence of obesity and overweight among the female school going children in Al-Khobar city in Saudi Arabia in 2003. About 2239 school going female children were interviewed for this study .The study concluded that about 20% of female school children are affected from overweight and 11% are affected from obesity. Thus, this study found that the prevalence rate among school going female children were predominantly high. “(Al-Saeed WY et al., 2007, p.93).” “Amin TT et al., “ study carried over in 2008, a study on 1139 school children in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia found that 14.2% of them were affected with overweight whereas about 9.7% were affected from obesity. The study also found that obesity was prevalent among older age students, urban students and children whose mothers were obese. It also found that causes of overweight was due to less-educated family, infrequent breakfast , not eating vegetables ,fruits , dairy products or milk with higher consumption of candy /sweets and carbonated soft drinks. The above study also found that there are no good dietary habits and poor food preferences, which are the reason for high prevalence of obesity among school children in Al Hassa. (Amin TT, 2008, p.318). “Findings and Recommendations “ Various past empirical studies have found that there is a high incidence of obesity and overweight among school going kids and adolescents in Saudi Arabia.” Previous empirical studies carried on by El-Hamsi et al( 2011) , Garrow & Summerbell(1995), Al-Hazza (2007), EI Mouzan et al., (2010), Khalid Mel H (2008), AI-Saeed WY et al (2003), Amin TT et al (2008) have found that high rate of obesity and overweight is prevailing among school going children and adolescents in Saudi Arabia.” If unchecked, the obesity and overweight among children could be triggered to a major health issue for the Saudi Arabian government in the near future as it will increase its spending on the healthcare benefits to its citizens. Saudi government should introduce immediate steps to stop further growth in the figures of obsessed school going children and adolescents and the related health perils. It is suggested that Saudi government should introduce health education programmes as regard to overweight or obesity to all school going kids, their teachers and their families. References Al-Hazza, HM (2007). Prevalence and Trends in Obesity among School boys in Central Saudi Arabia between 1998 and 2005. Saudi Medical Journal, 28(10), 1569-1574. Al-Saeed WY, Al-Dawood KM, Bukhari IA, & Bahnassy A. (2007). Prevalence and Socioeconomic Risk Factors of Obesity among Urban Female Students in Al-Khobar City. Eastern Saudi Arabia, 2003. Obesity Review, 8(2):93-99. Al-Shamsi, R. (2012). The Prevalence and Selected Determinants of Overweight and Obesity. New York: ProQuest. Amin TT, Al-Sultan AI, & Ali, A. (2008). Overweight and Obesity and their Relation to Dietary Habits among Primary School Children in Al-Hassa ,Kingdom of Saudi Arabia .European Journal of Nutrition , 47(6), 310-318. Andrew D P S, Pederson P M & McEvoy, C D. (2011).Research Methods and Design in Sport Management. New York: Human Kinetics. El Mouzan MI, Foster PJ, Herbish A S Al, Salloum A A AI, Omer, A A AI, Qurachi M, & Kecojevic T. (2010). Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in Saudi Children and Adolescents. Annals of Saudi Medicine, 30(3):203-208. Mel-H, K. (2008) Is High-Altitude Environment a Risk-Factor for Childhood Overweight and Obesity in Saudi Arabia? Wilderness Environment Medicine, 19(3), 157-163. O’Dea, A & Eriksen, M. (2010). Childhood Obesity Prevention: International Research, Controversies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Waters E, Swinburn B, Seidell J &Uauy. (2011). Preventing Childhood Obesity. New York: John Wiley & Sons. WHO. (2000). Obesity: Preventing and Managing the Global Epidemic .New York: World Health Organization. Read More