Relationship between Age and the Prevalence of Obesity and Overweight in Saudi Population

Results: The overall prevalence, in this adult Saudi community, of obesity and overweight was 15.12% and 32.82% in males and 23.97% and 29.09% in females, respectively. Further grouping was carried out according to age into 20-29, 30-39, 40-49 and > 50 years age groups and the prevalence of obesity and overweight was determined in each age group. In the males the highest prevalence of obesity and overweight was 19.2% and 38.6% in the 40-49 years age group, while in the females overweight was most common in the > 50 years age group (34.8%) and obesity was highest in the 40-49 years age group (36%). A statistically significant increase was observed in the prevalence of both obesity and overweight with age. The correlation coefficient “r” was determined using General Linear Model Programme. The `r’ between age and obesity was 0.9066 and 0.9593 and between age and overweight was 0.8864 and 0.8790 in the males and females, respectively, with a p < 0.005 in all groups.