A Review of Adult Obesity Prevalence, Trends, Risk Factors, and Epidemiologic Methods in Kuwait

Table 3

Data collection, data analysis, and results of adult obesity epidemiologic studies in Kuwait.

First author (publication year)	Data collection method; (type of collected data reported)	Statistical methods	Statistical model adjustment factors	Obesity prevalence (%) or mean BMI	Obesity correlates and/or trend
Badr et al. (2012) [18]	Face to face interview with questionnaire (sociodemographic, socioeconomic, anthropometric, medical history, psychological).	Chi-square test, Student's 𝑡-test, multivariate logistic regression.	Age, sex, marital status, education, household income, cultural background (Bedouin, non-Bedouin self-identity).	All: 46%. Men: 30%. Women: 56%.	Female gender (+), being married (+), younger age among the ≥50 yrs population for example, 50–59 yrs versus 70+ (+), diabetes, hypertension and osteoarthritis (+), high depressive symptoms score in men (−)^$.
Zaghloul et al. (2012) [19]	Face to face interview with questionnaire (sociodemographic, socioeconomic, anthropometric, dietary).	Student's 𝑡-test, ANOVA test.	No model used.	All: 46%*. Age group 19–50 yrs: all 41%*, men 29%, women 50%. Age group ≥ 51 yrs: all 57%*, men 42%, women 70%.	Not investigated.
Alattar et al. (2012) [20]	Face to face interview (sociodemographic, anthropometric, medical history, physiologic, biochemical, lifestyle).	Chi-square test.	No model used.	All: 20%. Men: 31%. Women: 14%.; Mean BMI: all 26.	Not investigated.
Naser Al-Isa et al. (2011) [21]	Face to face interview (sociodemographic, socioeconomic, anthropometric, lifestyle, medical history).	Chi-square test, multivariate logistic regression.	Age, dental health status, chronic disease, number of obese brothers, number of obese relatives, parental obesity, wife's education, last GPA, high school GPA, monthly family income, physical activity, practice sport ( hours/week), practice sports (months/year), health status, dieting, feeling tired, need special nutrition program^#.	Men: 20%.; Men age group ≥ 50 yrs: 28%.	Age (+), treated dental status versus healthy (−), having chronic disease (+), number of obese brothers (+), number of obese relatives (+), parental obesity (+), educated wife (−), low high school GPA (+), high family income (+), physical activity (−), sports practice (−), poor health status (+), feeling tired (+), need for special nutrition program (+).
Ahmed et al. (2011) [22]	Face to face interview (sociodemographic, socioeconomic, anthropometric, lifestyle).	Mann-Whitney 𝑈-test, 𝑍-test, multivariate linear regression, multivariate logistic regression.	Age and education when examining time trend. Age, education, exercise, smoking when examining risk factors.	All study years*: all 37%, men 32%, women 41%. Age group ≥ 50 yrs: all 52%, men 39%, women 67%. By study year: men: 1998—23%, 2000—31%, 2002—32%, 2004—39%, 2006—37%, 2008—34%. Women: 1998—28%, 2000—33%, 2002—49%, 2004—49%, 2006—49%, 2008—43%.	Trend: positive between 1998 and 2009 (peak in 2004).; Risk factors: age (+), high education in women (−), high education in men (+), smoking and exercise in men (−).
Babusik and Duris (2010) [23]	Face to face interview (sociodemographic, anthropometric, biochemical).	𝑇-test, Pearson correlation, multivariate linear regression.	Age, gender, nationality.	Arabs mean BMI: men 32, women 36.; South Asians mean BMI: men 26, women 29.	Arab ethnicity versus south asian (+)^$, age (+)^$, HDL (−), TC/HDL ratio (+), triglycerides (+).
Al Rashdan and Al Nesef (2010) [24]	Face to face interview with questionnaire (sociodemographic, anthropometric, physiologic, biochemical).	Chi-square test, 𝑍-test for proportion.	No model used.	All: 48%. Men: 39%. Women: 53%. Age group 20–24 yrs: men 23%, women 21%. Age group 55–65 yrs: men 43%, women 77%.	Age (+), female gender (+), mean SBP and DBP (+), total cholesterol (+), HDL (−), LDL (+), triglycerides (+), fasting glucose (+), HbA1c (+), waist circumference (+).
Al-Kandari et al. (2008) [25]	Self-reported questionnaire (sociodemographic, socioeconomic, anthropometric, health-promoting behavior).	ANOVA 𝐹-test.	No model used.	All: 12%. Men: 14%. Women: 11%.; Kuwaiti: 8.3%. GCC: 1.4%. Other Arabs: 2%. Non-Arab: 0.5%; Mean BMI: all 24, men 25, women 24.	Kuwaiti nationality (+), age (+), married (+), health promotion lifestyle score (−).
Al-Bader et al. (2008) [26]	Face to face interview (sociodemographic, anthropometric, spirometry).	ANOVA, 𝑡-test, linear regression.	No variables used to adjust for confounding.	Mean BMI: men 28, women 29.	Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (−), forced vital capacity (−).
Al Orifan et al. (2007) [27]	Face to face interview (sociodemographic, anthropometric, lifestyle, biochemical, physiologic).	Chi-square test, 𝑡-test, multivariate logistic regression.	Age, gender, systolic blood pressure or diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, triglycerides, total cholesterol or LDL and HDL cholesterol.	All: 42%	Female gender (+), impaired fasting blood sugar (+), prehypertension (+), high total cholesterol (+), high HDL (+), low LDL (+).
Al-Kandari (2006) [28]	Face to face interview with questionnaire (sociodemographic, Socioeconomic, sociocultural, anthropometric, lifestyle).	Correlation, multivariate linear regression.	Level of education, age, SES, number of families living in the same household, Number of times per week eating at restaurants, degree of preferring salt in food^#.	All: 41%. Men: 39%. Women: 42%. Age group ≥ 50 yrs*: all 60%, men 43%, women 80%.	Level of education (−), age (+), SES (−), number of families living in the same household (+), Number of times per week eating at restaurants (+), degree of preferring salt in food (+), general physical activity (−)^$, physical activity during work (−)^$, number of relatives living in the same household (+)^$, degree of religiosity (+)^$, having a cook (+)^$.
Al-Assomi et al. (2005) [29]	Face to face interview with questionnaire (sociodemographic, Socioeconomic, anthropometric, lifestyle, medical history, physiologic, biochemical).	Chi-square test.	No model used.	All: 44%. Men: 31%. Women: 53%. Kuwaiti: 50%. Non-Kuwaiti: 28%.	Hypertension (+), cholesterol (+), diabetes (+).
Al-Shayji and Akanji (2004) [30]	Face to face interview with questionnaire (sociodemographic, anthropometric, lifestyle, medical history, reproductive, physiologic, biochemical).	ANOVA, Student's 𝑡-test, ANCOVA, chi-square test.	No model used.	All: 20%. Men: 13%. Women: 25%. Mean BMI: all 26, men 25, women 26,	Glucose (+), LDL (+), apo B (+), urate (+), mean BP (+), triglycerides (+), insulin (+), insulin/glucose ratio (+).
Al-Asi (2003) [31]	Face to face interview with questionnaire (sociodemographic, anthropometric, lifestyle, medical history, physiologic).	Chi-square test.	No model used.	All: 27%. Kuwaiti: 32%. Non-Kuwaiti: 19%.	Kuwaiti nationality (+), field work versus office work (+), physical activity (−), diabetes (+), hypertension (+).
Olusi et al. (2003) [32]	Face to face interview with questionnaire (sociodemographic, Socioeconomic, anthropometric, medical history, lifestyle, and biochemical).	𝑇-test, ANOVA.	No model used.	All: 24%. Men: 18%. Women: 30%.	Female gender (+).
Al-Isa A. (1999) [33]	Face to face interview with questionnaire (sociodemographic, Socioeconomic, anthropometric, medical history, lifestyle).	Chi-square test, multivariate logistic regression.	Gender, age, marital status, obesity among parents, dieting, last health check-up, year of study at college^#.	All: 9%. Men: 11%. Women: 8%.	Male gender (+), maternal obesity (+), dieting (+), last health check-up a year ago versus do not recall last health check-up (−), second year of study versus first year of study (−), number of brothers/sisters (+)^$, low high-school GPA (+)^$, number of regular meals eaten (+)^$.
Abdella et al. (1998) [34]	Face to face interview with questionnaire (sociodemographic, Socioeconomic, anthropometric, medical history, biochemical, physiologic, lifestyle).	ANOVA, multivariate linear regression, multivariate logistic regression.	Age, blood pressure, family history of type 2 diabetes, cholesterol, triglycerides, sex, exercise.	All: 40%	Type 2 diabetes (+), fasting plasma glucose (+).
Al-Isa. (1997) [35]	1980: not stated (sociodemographic, anthropometric). 1993: face to face interview (sociodemographic, Socioeconomic, anthropometric).	Chi-square test, 𝑡-test, multivariate linear regression, multivariate logistic regression.	Study period, age, region, education, marital status, occupation.	1980: men 59%, women 32%.; 1990: men 73%, women 41%.	Study period 1993-94 (+), age (+), Ahmadi region (+), high education in men (+), married, widowed or divorced in women (+), working in women (+).

$Where multivariate results were not available for a specific variable the bivariate results are reported.
^#Model adjustment factors not explicitly stated in paper text but above factors were included in the multivariate analysis table in paper.
*If parameters were not directly provided, these were estimated from numbers provided in study.