Childhood obesity is one of the most prevalent nutritional disorders affecting children across the world, which further leads to diabetes, osteoarthritis and other non-communicable diseases in adulthood. The magnitude of this problem among Indian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has not been investigated before.  This study delves into the prevalence of childhood obesity among this demographic and also provides a comparative analysis with the prevalence of obesity in UAE citizens and children in India. 

This is a cross-sectional study which investigates the prevalence of obesity in 3698 students of a single Indian school of the UAE. Anonymous anthropometric data of these children of age range 4-18 years was analyzed. The International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), World Health Organization (WHO), and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reference methods were used to calculate the prevalence of overweight, obesity, and extreme-obesity.

According to CDC guidelines, the prevalence of BMI ≥85th percentile, ≥95th percentile, and ≥99th percentile stands at 32.74%, 13.68%, and 5.1%, respectively. The children and particularly boys aged more than 10 years are at a higher risk of being overweight, obese and extremely obese (p=<0.05). In children aged 10 years or less, as the age increases, they tend to have higher BMI percentile and this is particularly prominent in boys (Pearson correlation coefficient 0.227). Conversely, in those over the age of 10 years, BMI percentile decreases with age, particularly noticeable in girls, albeit without statistical significance. 

Approximately one third of school-aged Indian expatriates in the UAE are overweight, obese or extremely obese. Our study, when contrasted with earlier studies, reveals that Emirati teenagers exhibit a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity compared to their Indian counterparts in the UAE.  Similarly, the prevalence of childhood obesity among Indian expatriates in the UAE surpasses that among children residing in India.