Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar;8(1):18-24.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijpam.2020.01.002. Epub 2020 Jan 8.

Underweight, body image, and weight loss measures among adolescents in Saudi Arabia: is it a fad or is there more going on?

Talal M Hijji  1 , Hassan Saleheen  2 , Fadia S AlBuhairan  1   3   4
Affiliations

Underweight, body image, and weight loss measures among adolescents in Saudi Arabia: is it a fad or is there more going on?

Talal M Hijji et al. Int J Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2021 Mar.

Abstract

Background and objective: Adolescence is considered to be a pivotal point in which optimum nutrition and eating habits are developed. Although tackling the obesity epidemic has been much discussed, addressing the issue of underweight and body image is often neglected. This study was carried out to get a better understanding of underweight status among adolescents in Saudi Arabia, and exploring self-perceptions of body image and weight loss measures among underweight adolescents.

Methods: Data from Jeeluna®, a national cross-sectional school-based survey were utilized. Jeeluna® assessed the health status and health-risk behaviors of adolescents in school through data obtained by a self-administered questionnaire, anthropologic measurements, and laboratory investigations.

Results: A total of 12,463 adolescents participated. Eighteen percent of adolescent males and 12.4% of females were found to be underweight, representing 14.9% of adolescents collectively. Forty-five percent of underweight participants were happy with their weight. Underweight females between the age group of 10 and 14 years were the most likely to believe that they still need to lose weight (16.0%) followed by females aged 15-19 years (9.7%). Underweight females aged 10-14 years were also the group most likely to engage in purging (1.6%). Stepwise logistic regression found that the strongest association with being underweight was with having a lower household income (OR 2.0, CI 1.5-2.7) and having more than 5 siblings (OR 1.8, CI 1.5-2.3).

Conclusion: Underweight status is prevalent among adolescents in Saudi Arabia and deserves more attention as a public health issue. Distorted body image and disordered eating behaviors exist, necessitating further investigation of underlying causes.

Keywords: Adolescent; Body image; Health status; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Low BMI; Underweight.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The named authors all declare that they have no conflicts of interest, real or perceived, to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Prevalence of underweight by age.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Unicef.org 2019. https://www.unicef.org/sowc2011/pdfs/SOWC-2011-Main-Report_EN_02092011.pdf Published.
    1. Mokdad A.H., Jaber S., Aziz M.I., AlBuhairan F., AlGhaithi A., AlHamad N.M. The state of health in the Arab world, 1990–2010: an analysis of the burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors. The Lancet. 2014 Jan 25;383(9914):309–320. - PubMed
    1. Catalano R.F., Fagan A.A., Gavin L.E., Greenberg M.T., Irwin C.E., Jr., Ross D.A. Worldwide application of prevention science in adolescent health. The Lancet. 2012 Apr 28;379(9826):1653–1664. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Unicef.org 2019. https://www.unicef.org/adolescence/files/SOWC_2011_Main_Report_EN_020920... Published.
    1. Population Estimates . 2019. General authority for statistics.https://www.stats.gov.sa/en/43 Published.