Prevalence of overweight and obesity among children aged 2-5 years in Bahrain: a comparison between two reference standards.

A cross-sectional study was carried out on Bahraini preschoolers aged 2-5 years (354 males and 344 females) to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity using the World Health Organization and the International Obesity Task Force cut-off values. Weight and height were recorded and body mass index (BMI) was calculated to determine the proportion of overweight and obesity. Using the World Health Organization percentile cut-off values, overweight (12.3%) and obesity (8.4%) was higher in females between 2 and <4 years of age whereas, the proportion of both overweight (8.4%) and obesity (7.2%) were higher in males between 4 and <6 years of age. Relative to the International Obesity Task Force indicators, the World Health Organization cut-off values produced nearly a 2-fold increase in both overweight and obesity at most ages. It is therefore important to ensure that the same cut-off reference values are used to define overweight and obesity particularly in preschoolers. Shifting to the new World Health Organization child growth standards may have important implications for child health programmes.