The Effect of Socioeconomic Status, Number of Siblings and Parental of Education on Children Body Mass Index at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: Cross Sectional Study

Objective: To assess the effect of socioeconomic status, number of family members and parental educational level on children’s body mass index (BMI). Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2014-2015 among children and adolescents aged 2-18 years old, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. They were visiting an ambulatory clinic at King Abdulaziz University Hospital. A representative sample of 521 children was collected using questionnaires completed by health personnel. Height and weight of the children were measured by trained health personnel and BMI was calculated. Results: The prevalence rates of overweight, obese and severely obese children were 36, 154, and 162 respectively. Children were more to be obese if they had families with low income (P-value=0.015), compared to families with high income. Obesity rates decrease when the family consists of four or less members. In contrast, the BMI increases when the family members are more than four (P-value= .0001). Also, we found that BMI increases with low parents educational level (P-value=0.0001 for father’s educational level) (p-value=002 for mothers educational level) Conclusion: Overweight and obesity among children living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia is associated with low family income, low educational levels of both parents and increases the number of family members.