- Eduardo Salazar-Martinez: Center for Populational Health Research, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
BACKGROUND: Obesity is on the rise among adults, adolescents and children worldwide, including populations living in developing countries. This study aimed to describe body mass index of adolescents from Mexico and Egypt and to evaluate non-nutritional correlates from two cohort studies.
METHODS: Questionnaire data and weight and height measurements were collected in two large baseline studies in adolescents between 11 and 19 years old attending public school during the 1998-1999 school year in Mexico (n = 10,537) and the 1997 school year in Egypt (n = 1,502). The authors compared body mass index and correlates stratified by sex and country through multivariate linear regression.
RESULTS: Overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 19.8 and 7.9%, respectively, among the Mexican adolescents and 12.1 and 6.2%, respectively, among the Egyptian adolescents. Based on U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) definition growth charts, for Mexico 18% of boys and 21% of girls were overweight and 11% of boys and 9% of girls were obese. In the Egyptian sample, 7% of boys and 18% of girls were overweight and 6% of boys and 8% of girls were obese. The most consistent correlates of body mass index in the Mexican population were age, years of education, smoking, vitamin intake and participating in sports, whereas the factors correlated among Egyptian adolescents were age and rural residence.
CONCLUSIONS: Obesity and overweight are becoming a problem among Mexican and Egyptian youth. Information about the risk factors associated with excessive weight gain during the adolescent period is a first step towards proposing prevention strategies.