Abstract
BackgroundThe aim of this study was to assess the trends in the prevalence of various health indicators among adolescents in United Arab Emirates (UAE).MethodsNationally representative data were analysed from 24,220 in-school adolescents (median age = 14 years) that took part in three cross-sectional surveys (2005, 2010 and 2016) of the “UAE Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS)”.ResultsSignificant improvements were identified among both girls and boys in the reduction of being physically attacked, inadequate fruit intake, inadequate vegetable consumption, loneliness, and among girls only poor oral hygiene (< 2 times tooth brushing/day) and among boys only, experiencing hunger and in physical fight. Significant rises were identified among both girls and boys in the prevalence of bullying victimization, overweight or obesity, leisure-time sedentary behaviour, injury and inconsistent washing hands prior to eating, and among boys only obesity and among girls only inadequate physical activity, and school truancy.ConclusionsSeveral reductions but even more increases of poor health indicators were identified over three cross-sectional surveys during a period of 11 years emphasizing the need for enhanced health promotion activities in this adolescent school population.
Highlights
The aim of this study was to assess the trends in the prevalence of various health indicators among adolescents in United Arab Emirates (UAE)
The present study aims to estimate trends of the prevalence of 20 different health and five protective indicators in the 2005, 2010 and 2016 UAE “Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS)”
More than two in three male students (68.7%) and 75.2% female students had less than two servings of fruits per day in 2005, while these prevalences significantly decreased between both sexes in 2016
Summary
The aim of this study was to assess the trends in the prevalence of various health indicators among adolescents in United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a trend study among adolescents in the Philippines [5] poor hand hygiene behaviour decreased over time, while it increased in Oman [6], and interpersonal violence, injury and physical inactivity decreased, while the prevalence of fruit and vegetable intake (one study) increased [5, 6]. In terms of injury and interpersonal violence, in a large study among adolescents in the UAE, 18% reported a physical injury in the past 12 months [7]. In a local study among adolescents in UAE, 15.4% of males and 8.0% of females reported physical violence (having been hit and pushed) in the past month [8]. In another study among 1054 school students in Dubai, peer violence (beating 39.4% and boxing 24.5%) was commonly reported [9]
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