ArticleSaudi journal of medicine & medical sciences
Prevalence of Obesity among Children and Adolescents in Saudi Arabia: A Multicenter Population-Based Study.
Article in Saudi journal of medicine & medical sciences. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers.
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Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed.
- Do School Athletes Really Eat Better? Nutritional and Body Composition Differences in Saudi Adolescents.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Prevalence of overweight and obesity and their associations with lifestyle habits among late adolescents in the Northern Border Region of Saudi Arabia: a cross‑sectional study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Effectiveness of a school-based obesity control program among adolescents in Makkah: A pretest-posttest intervention study.Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences · 2026Article
- Cross-Cultural Nutritional Epigenomics: Diet and Microbiome Interactions Shaping Type 2 Diabetes in Arab and Western Populations.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Cross-Sectional Assessment of Sleep-Disordered Breathing Prevalence in Pediatric Population with Obesity.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Prevalence of obesity and its relationship with lifestyle patterns among adults in Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study.Medicine · 2026Article
- Double burden of malnutrition among children under five years in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study of prevalence and determinants.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Exploring the relationship between mothers' knowledge, attitudes, and complementary feeding practices and nutritional status of children aged 6-23 months in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- Physical activity, dietary habits, screen time, and sleep duration among Saudi male adolescent athletes and non-athletes: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Prevalence of Obesity and Overweight Among Children in Aseer Region, Saudi Arabia.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- The relationship of dental caries and weight status with adherence to school nutrition policies among public primary school children in Riyadh: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of a Non-Weight-Centric Approach to Obesity Prevention in Rural and Urban Female Adolescents: Quasi-Experimental Study.Interactive journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Assessment of factors associated with the perception of parents concerning the body weight of their children and its implication on normalization of childhood obesity.Translational pediatrics · 2025Article
- The Impact of Nutritional Knowledge of Mothers on Their Children's Nutritional Knowledge and Weight Status.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Saudi fathers' perceptions of obesity, feeding practices, and promoting healthy eating in children: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Overweight and obesity among adolescents in Saudi Arabia: a multi-school cross-sectional study.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Body Fat and Obesity Rates, Cardiovascular Fitness, and the Feasibility of a Low-Intensity Non-Weight-Centric Educational Intervention Among Late Adolescents: Quasi-Experimental Study.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2025Article
- Perioperative Outcomes in Patients with and Without Chronic Preoperative Therapeutic Anticoagulation Undergoing Metabolic Surgery at an Academic Medical Center.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Beverages and sugar-sweetened beverages consumption pattern and amount among adolescents using beverage frequency questionnaire: cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
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8 authors.
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Abstract
Background: Childhood obesity has increased in Saudi Arabia over the past few decades. However, a representative burden of obesity remains unclear, as most studies had relied on small samples and/or used international growth references, which may have resulted in over-or underestimations of prevalence. Objective: The study aimed to determine the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents in Saudi Arabia using the Saudi growth chart. Methods: This population-based retrospective study included children and adolescents aged 2-19 years who visited any facility within the National Guard Health System (5 hospitals and 24 primary care centers) across Saudi Arabia between 2016 and 2021. The Saudi growth reference for children and adolescents was used for classification. Those with body mass index ≥95 Results: A total of 351,195 children and adolescents were included, of which 337,316 (96%) were Saudis. Overall, about one-fifth of the population was overweight (11.2%) or obese (9.4%). The prevalence of obesity was highest among children aged 2-6 years (12.3%), and it was higher among boys (10.4%) than girls (8.3%). In terms of region, the prevalence of obesity among Saudis was highest in the Central and Eastern regions (9.9% for both). Conclusion: The findings highlight an urgent need for national interventions to focus on the upstream determinants of childhood obesity and to improve healthy options for children and adolescents in terms of food and physical activities.
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