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 greater than or equal to 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/m(2)), 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.