Childhood Obesity in Saudi Arabia - Literature review Example

Childhood Obesity in Saudi Arabia (Name) (Course) (Lecturer) (Date ) Aim of the narrative literature review There are limited research on obesity among children in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the literature review aims at revealing the extent of obesity in Saudi Arabia through reviewing different literature on prevalence and interventions. Background There is no doubt that the level of obesity among children has reached epidemic level in most countries. Indeed, most researchers have continued to argue that childhood overweight and obesity is a serious problem that has continued to be on the rise in the past decades in the world. Most developed world are dealing with the problem at the moment as it is causing health challenges to the population. Saudi Arabia is also affected by this epidemic and obesity has become one of the leading health concerns. Notably, this incidence in Saudi Arabia is essentailly associated with with the gradual increase in wealth as a result of the oil booming in the late 1930s in the country. Most studies have continued to reveal that there is a connection between adult and childhood obesity. As such, it has played a role in increasing the prevalence of diseases that are associated with diabetes such as cardiovascular and hypertension that are the main cause of death and kidney failure in the country (Reilly 2006). Therefore, a review of the literature on the prevalence and intervention of childhood obesty will give important facts that are needed in order to establish the prevalence so as to carry out the right intervention strategies Swinburn & Egger 2002).. The mechanism of obesity development has not been fully understood (Schwimmer et al. 2003), however, most researchers have confirmed that it occurs when the energy expenditure than that stored. There are many etiologies for this kind of imbalance and therefore, makes it hard to address the rising prevalence of obesity and overweight with one etiology (Schwimmer et al. 2003). Lifestyles, environmental factors, cultural environment and genetic factors play major roles in the increasing prevalence of obesity among children not only in Saudi Arabia but also in the rest of the world (Dehgham & Merchant 2005). In small reported cases, childhood obesity and overweight, is siad to be as a result of genes for instance the leptin deficiency, side effects of some drugs such as steroids, or medical issues such as growth hormone deficiency and hypothyroidism (Mouzan et al. 2010) Various authors have carried out reaseach on the prevalence of obesity among children in Saudi Arabia. They include; Washi & Ageib (2010) who carried a research on the prevalence on obesity among school children at the city of Jedah, there are various interventions that have contined to increase worldwide in order to mitigate the rising rate of obesity among children American academy of Pediatrics 2003). This is attributed to the fact that if the efective interventions measure are not put into in place, the health authorities wil indded, feel the impact and the burden of treating not only obesity but also other diseases that are related to obesity and overweight. Mouzan et al. (2010) argued out that to their knowledge there is limited information on the national prevalence of obesity and overweight in Saudi Arabia among children and adolescents. As such, they carried out a study that established a clear prevalence of obesity and overweight using a represented sample of school going children and adolescents in the country. Dossary et al. (2012) confirmed that there is an increase in obesity prevalence in Saudi Arabia after conducting a research in Al-Khobar city situated in the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia. As such there is need of interventions strategies as most authors have note including; ALMarzooqi & Nagy (2011) who observe that there are various intervention that has been done by the health authorities. They note that in order to effectively mitigate the prevalence of obesity among children, prevention measures such as the primary and secondary should be considered. A reviewed carried out by Alam (2008) on the impact of intervention which are school based such as physical activities, behaviour and knowledge. The noted that there was significant improvements for this sought of intervention. The authors note that the United States introduced several interventions that influence eating habits and sedentary in schools. As a result, there was a decrease in obesity prevalence in the schools where they interventions were adhered to Al-Othaimeen et al. (2007) assert such intervention are likely to give positive results if applied in Saudi Arabia. Design The design for the literature review is Narative and utilizes a secondary collection method through published articles. Search strategy In order to have a clear picture of the aim and objectives of the literature review, it is important that various databases and websites are used in order to obtain the required materials. Therefore, this includes the use of Amazon, Google and Yahoo which are rich with published articles. Database Search The main databases that were used in the literature review icluded Google Scholar, Global Health, Cochrane, CINAHL, Life Sciences and PubMed. Website Search The website research involved various websites related to the topic such as Life Science Journal, Minisitry of Health in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, World Health Organizations, Journal of Adolescent Health, Journal of Peditatric, Eastern Meditereanean Health Journal, Annual Saudi Health Journal, Nutririon Journal, Pediatric and Obesity Review. Inclusion criteria Date: articles of from 2000-2012 Type: conference paper, published article, governement report, Non-govermental organzation reports, book chapter, abstract, technicqal report and unpublished articles Sources: databases, various website including governement and NGOs Country: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Journals: the tournal used are those related to the topic and include obesity, children and adolescents health and nutrtion Relevant word included in the criteria include obesity, overweight children health, adolescent health, prevalence of obesity, intervention of obesity in Saudi Arabia, communitty health, nutrition and exercise, sedentay lifestyle, eating habit, parent role, care planning and physical activities. Exclusion criteria Date: articles that are below the year 2000 Country: other country apart from Saudi Arabia Type: Nil Source: Nil Journal: articles that are not related to the topic such as non-health related Key words: factors, overweight, obesity, prevalence of obesity, Saudi children, interventions, children and adolescent health, physical activities, parent roles and responsibilities at home, cross sectional study, eating habits and sedentary lifestyle Search results The total number of the identified articles was 28, however, only 9 were reviewed. Below is a summary of the search strategy used for the literature review; Organization website n = 12 Electronic database = 125 Identified abstracts =34 Excluded articles =221 Articles reviewed =9 There are reasons why some articles were readily excluded from the study; the literature review basically is interested in articles that are discussing the topic in detail and are speciafically pointing out to Saudi Arabia and showing the prevalence and intervention in the kingdom. Analysis of the articles used Authors Trpe of research location Target population Main findings Intervention Alam (2008) A cross sectiona study Saudi Arabia (North West Riyadh) Female students in Saudi Arabia Female are more susceptible to obesity compared to boys Increase in health lifestyle among children ALMarzooqi, M., & Nagy, C 2011, A cross sectiona study Saudi Arabia Children Increase in obesity prevalece among chidren Limitation of dietary intake Al-Othaimeen, A., Al-Nozha, M., & Osman, A 2007, A cross sectiona study Saudi Arabia Children Boys as well as girls are at a risk of suffering from ovrwweight and obesity due to lifestyle and eating habits Government intervention in schools to allow healthy lifestyles Dehgham, M., & Merchant, A. 2005, A cross sectiona study Saudi Arabia Children Prevalence among boys was at 10.1%, while girls 8.4 % Healthcare providers, policy makers, parents and educators should be spearhead the interventions Mouzan, M., Foster, P., Herbish, A., Salloum, A., Omer, A., Qurachi, M., et al. 2010 A cross sectiona study Saudi Arabia children A rise in the prevalence of obesity and oveerweight among school going children Increase in physical activities at schools and home; healthy lifestyle El-Hazmi, M., & Warsy, A 2002 A cross sectiona study Saudi Arabia Children There is an increase in obesity and overweight in most provinces school based interventions such as physical activities, behaviour and knowledge Dossary, S., Sarkis, P., Hassan, A., Regal, E., & Fouda, A 2012 A cross sectiona study Saudi Arabia (Al-Khobar city) Children Boys have a high percentage of obesity and severe obesity compared to girls Limitation of dietary intake Washi S, Ageib M. 2010 A cross sectiona study Saudi Arabia (Jeddah) Children High prevalance of obesity and overweight among school going children Increase in school based intervention such as physical activities and eating habits Themes Various themes may be developed from the literature review o the prevalence and intervention of obesity among children in Saudi Arabia. According to the articles reviewed, most of the research carried are cross sectional study. In addition, if most them target the urban and high populated area, it brings out the theme of researchers concentrating in the urban and highly populated areas. This is quite significant in this study given that most children who are suffering from overweight and obesity are highly concentrated in these regions. Still, there are more exposed to Western lifestyle and food as compared to those living in the rural areas. One may argue out that children living in the urban areas are less exposed to physical exercise compared to their agemate in the other regions. This may be attributed to the fact that most parents are never keen on the children physical needs due to their busy schedules. There is also repetition as a theme which is clearly depicted from the work carried out by various other. In most cases, they are interested in the prevalence and intervention of obesity among children living in Saudi Arabia. Of most important is the fact that most authors have come up with various percentage showing the prevalence rate of obesity in both genders. Notably, most authors have concluded that there is an increases of obesity among school children that may habe contributed by various factors including social behavior, sedentary lifestyle and eating habits. In addition a repetition (6 out of 9 authors) is also evidence when they discovered that boys have a higher prevalence of obesity and severe obesity as compared to girls. On the other hand, most girls are over weight and remain susceptible to obesity as compared to boys. Various conclusion are obtained from the theme and may be summarised as shown below; Most of the studied groups are children and adolescents going to school in the kingdo The study is effective in the urban and populated region in the kingdom Boys show a higher prevalence of obese and severe obese compared to the girls of the same age Girls have a higher prevalence of overwweight compared to boys Girls are more likely to suffer from obese when compared to the boys Socia behavior, lifestyle and eating habits are some of the factors that have contirbuted to rise in obesisty prevalence in the kingdom Conclusion The study carreid out is a narrative literature review that essentially has described the prevalence and intervention of obesity among children in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as carried out by various authors. In selecting materials for reviews, there a criteria that was selected to get the articles that had full details of the topic. 9 articles were found relevant and their analysis were doen accordingly. Variosu theme were established including the repetition of the work done by the authors which depicted that there is a rise in obesity prevalence among school going children, boys have a higher prevalence of obesity and severe obesity as compared to girls through the girls are said to show high suceptibility to obesity. Indeed, with increase of these research in this topic, it is clear that there are tremendous steps that are likely to be taken in order to mitigate the rise of obesity among children in the kingdom. Reference Alam A 2008, Obesity among female school children in North West Riyadh in relation to affluent lifestyle. Saudi Medical Journal, 29:1139–1144. ALMarzooqi, M., & Nagy, C 2011, Childhood obesity intervention programs; a systematic review. Life science Journal , 8 (4); 22 37. Al-Othaimeen, A., Al-Nozha, M., & Osman, A 2007, Obesity: an emerging problem in Saudi Arabia. Analysis of data from the National Nutrition Survey. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal , 13 (2); 441-460. Dehgham, M., & Merchant, A. 2005, Childhood obesity, prevalence and prevention. Nutrition Journal , 4: 24. Dossary, S., Sarkis, P., Hassan, A., Regal, E., & Fouda, A 2012, Obesity in Saudi children; a dangerous reality . Eastern Mediterrenean Health Journal , 16 (9):1003-8. El-Hazmi, M., & Warsy, A 2002, A comparative study of prevalence of overweight and obesity in children in different provinces of Saudi Arabia. Journal Trop Pediatrician , 48:172-7. Mouzan, M., Foster, P., Herbish, A., Salloum, A., Omer, A., Qurachi, M., et al. 2010, Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Saudi children and adolescents. Ann Saudi Medical , 30(6):500. Needham, B., & Crosnoe, R 2004, Overweight and depression during adolescence. Journal of Adolescence Health , 36: 48-55. Pediatrics, A 2003, Policy statements. Prevention of pediatric overweight and obesity. Pediatrics , 112 (2):424-430. Washi S, Ageib M. 2010, Poor diet quality and food habits are related to impaired nutritional status in 13- to 18-year-old adolescents in Jeddah. Nutrition Research 30(8): 527-534. Reilly, J 2006, Tackling the obesity epidemic. New approaches. Arch Dis Child , 91: 724-6. Schwimmer, J., Burwinkle, T., & Varni, J 2003, Health-related quality of life in severly obese children and adolescents. JAMA , 289:1813-9. Swinburn, B., & Egger, G 2002, Preventve strategies against weight gain and obesity. Obesity Review , 3; 289-301. Read More

As such there is need of interventions strategies as most authors have note including; ALMarzooqi & Nagy (2011) who observe that there are various intervention that has been done by the health authorities. They note that in order to effectively mitigate the prevalence of obesity among children, prevention measures such as the primary and secondary should be considered. A reviewed carried out by Alam (2008) on the impact of intervention which are school based such as physical activities, behaviour and knowledge.

The noted that there was significant improvements for this sought of intervention. The authors note that the United States introduced several interventions that influence eating habits and sedentary in schools. As a result, there was a decrease in obesity prevalence in the schools where they interventions were adhered to Al-Othaimeen et al. (2007) assert such intervention are likely to give positive results if applied in Saudi Arabia. Design The design for the literature review is Narative and utilizes a secondary collection method through published articles.

Search strategy In order to have a clear picture of the aim and objectives of the literature review, it is important that various databases and websites are used in order to obtain the required materials. Therefore, this includes the use of Amazon, Google and Yahoo which are rich with published articles. Database Search The main databases that were used in the literature review icluded Google Scholar, Global Health, Cochrane, CINAHL, Life Sciences and PubMed. Website Search The website research involved various websites related to the topic such as Life Science Journal, Minisitry of Health in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, World Health Organizations, Journal of Adolescent Health, Journal of Peditatric, Eastern Meditereanean Health Journal, Annual Saudi Health Journal, Nutririon Journal, Pediatric and Obesity Review.

Inclusion criteria Date: articles of from 2000-2012 Type: conference paper, published article, governement report, Non-govermental organzation reports, book chapter, abstract, technicqal report and unpublished articles Sources: databases, various website including governement and NGOs Country: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Journals: the tournal used are those related to the topic and include obesity, children and adolescents health and nutrtion Relevant word included in the criteria include obesity, overweight children health, adolescent health, prevalence of obesity, intervention of obesity in Saudi Arabia, communitty health, nutrition and exercise, sedentay lifestyle, eating habit, parent role, care planning and physical activities.

Exclusion criteria Date: articles that are below the year 2000 Country: other country apart from Saudi Arabia Type: Nil Source: Nil Journal: articles that are not related to the topic such as non-health related Key words: factors, overweight, obesity, prevalence of obesity, Saudi children, interventions, children and adolescent health, physical activities, parent roles and responsibilities at home, cross sectional study, eating habits and sedentary lifestyle Search results The total number of the identified articles was 28, however, only 9 were reviewed.

Below is a summary of the search strategy used for the literature review; Organization website n = 12 Electronic database = 125 Identified abstracts =34 Excluded articles =221 Articles reviewed =9 There are reasons why some articles were readily excluded from the study; the literature review basically is interested in articles that are discussing the topic in detail and are speciafically pointing out to Saudi Arabia and showing the prevalence and intervention in the kingdom. Analysis of the articles used Authors Trpe of research location Target population Main findings Intervention Alam (2008) A cross sectiona study Saudi Arabia (North West Riyadh) Female students in Saudi Arabia Female are more susceptible to obesity compared to boys Increase in health lifestyle among children ALMarzooqi, M.

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