Changes in Body Mass Index and Prevalence of Obesity Among Adult Kuwaiti Women Attending Health Clinics

This study was undertaken to compare changes in body mass index (BMI, kg/m 2) and in prevalence of adiposity (BMI>25 and >30 kg/m 2) between two cross-sections of previously studied samples of 1171 and 1705 adult (aged >/=18 years) Kuwaiti women drawn from primary health care (PHC) clinics and studied for nutritional assessment and for prevalence of obesity in 1980-1981 and 1993-1994, respectively. Mild and moderate obesity (BMI>25 and >30 kg/m 2) were assessed based on the WHO criteria. The results of the study showed that BMI and prevalence of obesity (BMI>25 and >30 kg/m 2) increased by 6.2% (1.7 kg/m2), 22.7% and 8.4%, respectively. After controlling for sociodemographic differences between the two study periods, including period of study, age, region, education, marital status and occupation, mean BMI was 1.6 kg/m 2 higher in 1993-1994 than in 1980-1981 and prevalence of obesity (BMI>25 and >30 kg/m 2) also increased between the two periods (OR-22, 95% CI 1.6-3.0 and OR=1.4 95% CI 1.0-1.9, respectively). The rates of increase in BMI and in prevalence of obesity among Kuwaiti women were higher than in selected other countries.