Volume 24, Issue 104, July - August, 2020

The prevalence of obesity and the awareness of its complications among adolescent in Hail city Saudi Arabia

Meshari Yousef Aljamani¹, Abdulrazaq Yousef Aljamani¹, Ibrahim Ginawi^1♦, Ibrahim Algharbi¹, Marwa M. Abdelsamed¹, Hussain Gadelkarim Ahmed^2,3

¹General Directorate of Public Health Hail/ MOH, Saudi Arabia
²College of Medicine, University of Ha’il, Hail, Saudi Arabia
³Department of Histopathology and Cytology, FMLS, University of Khartoum, Sudan

^♦Corresponding author
General Directorate of Public Health Hail/ MOH, Saudi Arabia; Email: iginawi71@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Background: Obesity is the accumulation of excess fat in the body and represents a public health problem globally, including Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the prevalence of obesity among adolescents at intermediate and secondary schools in Hail city and to determine the level of awareness about its complications. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study has been conducted between 19 March 2019 and 18 April 2019. Results: The study included 400 students; the ratio of male to female was 1:1 with a mean age ±SD of 16±1.6 years. Approximately, 59.8% of participants were found to be aware of obesity and its complications. The main source of information was social media indicated by 67.4% of individuals. The factors that significantly affected the awareness of students were age (P=0.0001), gender (P=0.0001), weight (P=0.0001), BMI (P=0.0001), waist circumference (P=0.0001), mood (P=0.0001) and school achievements (P=0.0001). Conclusions: The prevalence rates of obesity and overweight presented onethird of the participants in this study and the level of awareness among students regarding obesity complications was indicated in two-third of participants, and the social media derived as the first source of awareness.

Keywords: Awareness, Obesity, School students, Hail.

Medical Science, 2020, 24(104), 1864-1869

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