The prevalence of obesity and associated morbidity among 17-year-old Israeli conscripts

SummaryBackground has been a significant increase in the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents over the last few decades. Obesity is associated with significant psychosocial and physical morbidity. ive m of this study was to define the prevalence of obesity and associated morbidity, including type 2 diabetes and hypertension, among 17-year-old adolescents. A comparison between the morbidity patterns of females and males was also performed. -year-old Israeli nationals are obliged by law to present at the Israel Defence Forces recruiting office for a medical examination, with the exception of orthodox religious and Arabic adolescents. Height and weight are measured and classified, and a trained specialist evaluates those with suspected associated diseases. The level of education is also recorded. s rvey included 76,732 adolescents, 32,402(42.2%) females and 44,330(57.8%) males. The prevalence of obesity and morbid obesity among 17-year-old Israeli conscripts was 4.1% in males and 3.3% in females. The prevalence of borderline overweight was 12.4% in males and 11.4% in females. The prevalence of hypertension and type 2 diabetes was significantly higher among conscripts with BMI>30 kg/m2 in both genders. There was also a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension and type 2 diabetes in males compared with females(P<0.001, 0.015). A significantly higher prevalence of conscripts without high-school education(<10 years of education) was found among females with BMI>30 kg/m2. There was no significant difference among the male conscripts. sions tudy found a relatively low prevalence of obesity among 17-year-old Israeli conscripts, but an alarmingly high prevalence of borderline overweight. Obesity was correlated with a higher prevalence of hypertension and type 2 diabetes, and a lower level of education. There was a significant difference between genders in the prevalence of hypertension and type 2 diabetes, and this should be further investigated. These data call for the creation of new education programmes on the prevention of overweight among children and adolescents.