Overweight and Obesity in Eastern Mediterranean Region: Prevalence and Possible Causes

Table 1

National prevalence of overweight among preschool children (0–5 years) in selected EMR countries.

Country	Date of survey	Sample size	Sex	Age (year)	Definition	% Overweight	References
Afghanistan	1997	4846	M/F	0.5–2.99	NCHS/WHO (>2SD)	4.0	[13]
Bahrain	2003	188	M	2–<4	IOTF	9.5
		178	F	2–<4	IOTF	13.2	[14]
		166	M	4–<6	IOTF	10.3
		166	F	4–<6	IOTF	10.4
Djibouti	2002	780	M	0–5	BMI/age > 2SD (WHO)	12.3	[15]
		757	F			7.9
Egypt	1995-1996	9766	M/F	0–4.99	NCHS/WHO (>2SD)	8.6	[13]
Jordan	1990	6601	M/F	0–4.99	NCHS/WHO (>2SD)	5.7	[13]
Kuwait	2005	2508	M	2–59 m	wt/ht > 2SD (WHO)	5.2	[16]
		2405	F			6.8
Libya	2003	3608	M	0–5	BMI/age > 2SD (WHO)	13.9	[15]
		3624	F	0–5		12.9
Morocco	2003-2004	2672	M	0–5	BMI/age > 2SD (WHO)	17.8	[15]
		2709	F	0–5		13.2
Oman	1999	14144	M/F	0–5	wt/ht > 2SD (WHO)	1.9	[17]
Pakistan	1990-1991	4056	M/F	0–4.99	NCHS/WHO (>2SD)	3.1	[13]
Qatar	2001	4136	M	0–5	≥97percentiles (CDC)	8.9	[18]
		4095	F	0–5		9.4
Sudan	2000-2001	9018	M	0–4.99	≥2 𝑍-scores (WHO)	3.0	[19]
		9025	F	0–4.99		3.9
Syria	2001	2804	M	0–5	BMI/age > 2SD (WHO)	21.9	[15]
		2650	F	0–5		18.4
Tunisia	2006	—	M	0–4.99	wt/age > 2SD (WHO)	5.6	[20]
		—	F	0–4.99		7.2
Yemen	2003	5658	M	0–5	BMI/age > 2SD (WHO)	9.3	[15]
		5266	F	0–5		8.3