Table 1.

Descriptive summary of correlate studies of overweight and obesity

Author (Year)	Country	Area	Age, Range in Years and Mean (SD)	Sample Size	Participants	Correlate Measure	Outcome Measure	By What Measure is the Determinant Evaluated	Main Findings
Sayegh et al (2016)14	Qatar	‐	18‐64, 37.4 (11.7)	549	Qatari females	Physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	There was no statistically significant difference among BMI levels with respect to physical activity.
Bin Horaib et al (2013)15	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	34.12 (7.25)	10 229	Military male personnel	Sociodemographic factors, smoking, dietary habits, and physical activity	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Increased age, more years of education, and family history of diabetes or hypertension were related to higher BMI, while higher military rank, smoking, eating fruits more than twice per week, and strenuous physical activity were related to lower BMI.
Al‐Nozha et al (2007)16	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	30‐70, 46.3 (11.50)	17 395	Saudis (8297 males and 9098 females)	Physical activity	BMI and waist circumference (WC)	National Epidemiological Health Survey by researcher	Individuals who were physically active showed lower values of BMI and WC.
Al‐Nozha et al (2005)17	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	30‐70	17 232	Saudis (8215 males and 9008 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Overweight was higher among males, while obesity was higher among females. Urban residents were more obese compared with Saudis living in rural areas. Obesity is the highest among Saudis living in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia, while the lowest rate was observed in the southern region. Regarding age group, 40‐49 were most obese, and 60‐70 were most overweight.
AlAteeq and AlArawi (2014)18	Saudi Arabia	Urban	39.2 (8.91)	322	Clinicians (127 males and 195 females)	Sociodemographic factors, dietary habits, and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Females had lower BMI than males. No significant correlation was found between dietary habits and BMI. Higher levels of physical activity were associated with lower BMI. Nurses and pharmacists had a significantly lower BMI compared with physicians.
Allam et al (2012)19	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	21.06 (1.85)	194	University medical students (94 males and 100 females)	Sociodemographic factors, dietary habits, and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Male students showed higher rates of obesity than females. A positive correlation was observed between the median caloric intake and BMI. Inactivity was associated with increased median caloric intake and BMI. High intakes of carbohydrates and animal foods and low intakes of fibre, minerals, and vitamins coupled with low physical activity were associated with overweight and obesity among students.
Al Qauhiz (2010)20	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	22‐24, 20.78 (3.01)	799	Female university students	Sociodemographic factors and dietary habits	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Being married, presence of obesity among family members, and frequency of soft drinks consumption were related to obesity.
Al‐Baghli et al (2008)21	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	30 and older	195 874	Saudis (99 946 males and 95 905 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	The highest prevalence of obesity was detected in the age group 50‐59 y. Obesity increased with age. It was higher among women than men, higher in housewives, higher among married subjects, higher among the less well educated, those with low income, and those who were less physically active.
Rasheed (1998)22	Saudi Arabia	Urban	29.28 (7.70)	144	Saudi females	Sociodemographic factors, dietary habits, and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	High consumption of calorie‐rich diets, the traditional system of food hospitality, low physical activity, lack of awareness regarding obesity status, and attitudes and behaviours related to eating (antecedents of eating such as emotional states of stress, anger, and boredom) were the main risk factors for female obesity. Obese participants were less likely to eat at fixed times during the day and more often indulged in eating while watching TV.
Almajwal (2015)23	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18 and older	362	Non‐Saudi female nurses	Sociodemographic factors, dietary habits, and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Low physical activity was related to high BMI. Nurses who worked shift duty had significantly higher BMIs compared with day shift nurses. Nurses who rarely ate breakfast and meals and often ate fast food were more likely to be overweight or obese.
Almajwal (2016)24	Saudi Arabia	Urban	18 and older	395	Non‐Saudi female nurses	Dietary habits, emotion, and stress	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	BMI was significantly correlated with restrained eating style (the tendency to restrict food intake in order to control body weight), emotional eating style (the tendency to cope with negative emotions), and stress.
Khalaf et al (2013)25	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	20.4 (1.50)	663	Female university students	Physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	High physical activity was related to high BMI.
Samara et al (2015)26	Saudi Arabia	Urban	18‐22, 20 (0.70)	94	Female university students	Sedentary behaviour	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	High sedentary behaviour was associated with high BMI.
El Hamid (2014)27	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18‐28, 20.78 (1.76)	400	Female university students	Home breakfast skipping	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Home breakfast eaters had a significantly higher BMI compared with home breakfast skippers.
Al‐Otaibi (2013)28	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	20‐56	242	Saudis (118 males and 124 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Males had higher BMI levels than females.
Al‐Otaibi (2013)29	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	21.74 (1.55)	960	Female university students	Fruit and vegetable consumption	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Females who consumed less than five servings per day group had higher BMI than the five or more servings per day group.
Khalaf et al (2014)30	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18 and older, 20.4 (1.50)	663	Female university students	Sociodemographic factors, dietary habits, and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Social factors positively associated with high BMI were the presence of obese parents and siblings, being married, high number of sisters, high level of father's education, more frequent intake of French fries/potato chips (greater than three times per week), and low physical activity levels.
Al‐Rethaiaa et al (2010)31	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18‐24	357	Male university students	Dietary habits	Obesity “BMI” “VFL”	Self‐administered survey	Eating with family and frequent snacking were found to be related to high BMI. Visceral fat level (VFL) was inversely correlated with the frequency of both eating with family and date consumption.
Al‐Nuaim et al (1997)32	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	20 and older, 35.8 (14.27)	10 651	Saudis (50.8% males and 49.2% females)	Sociodemographic factors	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	The prevalence of obesity was higher in females than males, lower in subjects living in rural areas with traditional lifestyles than those in more urbanized environments, and increased with increased age, lower education, and income.
Khalid (2007)33	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18‐60	438	Married, nonpregnant females	Sociodemographic factors and physical activity	Obesity “BMI” and abdominal obesity	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Increased age, total obesity, and multiple pregnancies were significantly associated with a higher prevalence of abdominal obesity. Low educational level and low physical activity were associated with higher abdominal obesity.
Al Dokhi and Habib (2013)34	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18‐72, 36.91 (15.22)	411	Saudis (300 males and 111 females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender”	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Males had a significantly higher prevalence of overweight compared with females. Females had a significantly higher prevalence of class II and III obesity compared with males.
Al‐Shahrani Al‐Khaldi (2011)35	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	36.2 (13.60)	429	Patients attended health care clinics (217 males and 212 females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender,” dietary habits, and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Records of people attending health promotion clinics by researcher	Obesity was higher among women than men and among those above 45 y old.
Abdel‐Megeid et al (2011)36	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	21.1 (2.80)	312	University students (132 males and 180 females)	Sociodemographic factors, dietary habits, and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Males had a higher percentage of overweight and obesity when compared with females. Increased fat consumption was correlated with high BMI. High economic status was correlated with high BMI. Low consumption of fibre, grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans and low exercise level of both genders were correlated with high BMI.
Aboul Azm (2010)37	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18‐22, 20.17 (1.30)	300	Saudi female nursing students	Dietary habits and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	More obese students were taking meals irregularly, snacking more frequently, and drinking more beverages and coffee/tea as compared with non‐obese students. Not having breakfast in the morning and rarely eating green, red, or yellow coloured vegetables, eating fried food, eating fast food, eating with friends, and eating out were practices associated with obesity. In addition, obese students had a lower physical activity level.
Al‐Shammari et al (1994)38	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	32.2 (11.70)	1385	Saudi females	Sociodemographic factors	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Poorly educated housewives more than 45 y old, particularly divorced, or widowed ones had higher BMI than others. BMI increased with age and multiple pregnancies. Participants living in rural areas had higher BMIs than those living in urban areas.
Albarrak et al (2016)39	Saudi Arabia	Urban	18 and older	448	University students (177 males and 271 females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender”	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher among male compared with female students.
Albawardi et al (2016)40	Saudi Arabia	Urban	18‐58	420	Saudi females working in office jobs	Sociodemographic and psychosocial factors	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by trained staff	Overweight/obesity was associated with increased age (over 35 y old), being married, having at least one child, having an education level above high school, having a family income of less than 10 000 Saudi riyals (SR), and working in the public sector (as compared with private sector). Physical activity, social support, and general self‐efficacy were not found to be associated with being overweight or obese.
Alodhayani et al (2017)41	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18‐25, 20.7 (2.33)	408	University medical students (224 males and 184 females)	Sociodemographic factors, sleep disturbances, and sleep duration	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements were taken	Male subjects had higher BMI than females. Normal‐weight subjects had a higher‐frequency percentage who reported in losing weight (30.6%) by performing exercise (25.7%) and diet (27%) on a regular basis compared with overweight and obese subjects. Also, results showed that there was an association between lack of sleep and reported weight gain, which can lead to obesity. The duration of sleeping between 5 and 6 h was linked to weight gain. There was a correlation between obesity and disturbance of sleep. Overweight and obese subjects had higher sleep disturbances such as watching television, lying down after lunch, and sitting and reading than normal‐weight subjects.
Azzeh et al (2017)42	Saudi Arabia	Urban	18‐60, 29.1 (8.5)	2548	Saudis (188 males and 224 females)	Sociodemographic factors	BMI, WC, total body fat, and visceral fat level (VFL)	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by trained staff	The prevalence of obesity and overweight was higher in men than in women. Waist circumference and visceral fat level were higher in men than in women, but the mean total body fat percentage was higher in females than in males.
Al‐Tannir et al (2016)43	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18 and older, 33.3 (11.8)	1369	Saudi citizens	Sleep disturbances	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Obesity was significantly associated with sleep disturbances. High levels of BMI were related to short sleep duration.
Saeed et al (2017)44	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	18‐24, 21.2 (1.2)	292	University students (146 males and 146 females)	Sociodemographic factors + physical activity	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by trained staff	Males had a higher prevalence of obesity than females. Subjects with chronic diseases were more prone to be obese. Family history of obesity was significantly associated with obesity. No significant association was found between physical activity and obesity.
Allafi and Waslien (2014)45	Kuwait	Urban + rural	18‐59, 26 (7.90)	1370	Kuwaiti males and females	Physical activity “inactivity”	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	High physical inactivity patterns were associated with high levels of BMI.
Al Zenki et al (2012)46	Kuwait	Urban + rural	20‐86, M 39.1 (0.90) and F 40.9 (0.70)	1830	Kuwaiti adults (459 males and 533 females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender”	Overweight and obesity “WC and BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Waist circumferences (WC) of males were significantly higher than those of females; however, the BMI and body fat levels of females were significantly higher than those of males. Males had a higher percentage of overweight than females; however, a significantly higher percentage of females were obese compared with males.
Al‐Isa (2004)47	Kuwait	Urban	20 and older	461	Female teachers	Sociodemographic factors, physical activity, obesity history, and dental status	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Factors found to be significantly associated with overweight, and obesity included increased age, being married, parents living at home, parental obesity, high number of obese relatives, low exercise, and low dental status.
Al‐Isa (2011)48	Kuwait	Urban + rural	18 and older	787	Kuwaiti university students (378 males and 409 females)	Sociodemographic factors and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Obesity was higher among males than females, 13% to 10.5%, respectively. High levels of BMI were associated with low physical activity.
Ramadan and Barac‐Nieto (2001)49	Kuwait	Urban	18‐37, 28.32 (1.83)	45	Male office workers or students	Physical activity, fitness level, and body composition	Obesity “BMI, skin folds, body fat content, and fat percentage”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Sedentary and minimally physically active groups had higher body weight, BMI, skin folds, body fat content, and fat percentage.
Badr et al (2013)50	Kuwait	Urban + rural	50 and older, 64.3 (9.30)	2443	Elderlies (948 males and 1495 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	In general, higher age was related to more overweight and obesity. However, Kuwaitis aged 50‐59 were 1.7 and 2.2 times more likely to be overweight and obese, respectively, compared with those aged 70 or older. Married individuals had 2.3 times higher risk of being overweight or obese than nonmarried individuals. Women were 3.6 times more likely to suffer from obesity than were men.
Musaiger et al (2014)51	Kuwait	Urban + rural	19‐26, 21 (3)	530	University students (203 males and 327 females)	Sociodemographic factors, dietary habits, and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Students with obesity were more likely to face barriers to healthy eating than other students. Also, males with obesity faced more significant personal barriers to physical activity than other males, such as lack of interest in being physically active, skills, and motivation to exercise. There were no significant differences between women with obesity and women who are not obese regarding barriers to healthy eating and physical activity.
Al‐Isa (1999)52	Kuwait	Urban + rural	18 and older	515	Kuwaiti male college students	Sociodemographic factors, dental status, obesity history dietary habits, and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Increased age, poor dental status, having a chronic disease, high number of obese brothers, high number of obese relatives, high parental obesity, low educational level, low grade point average (GPA), low high school GPA, high number of persons living at home, low monthly family income, low physical activity, low practice of sports, number of children, poor health status, dieting, number of times dieted, feeling tired, and needing special nutritional programmes were the factors found to be associated with overweight and obesity.
Al‐Asi (2003)53	Kuwait	Urban + rural	18 and older	3282	Kuwait oil company employees (2804 males and 478 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Males showed a higher level of overweight and obesity (79%) than females (56%). Field workers had a higher level of overweight and obesity (78%) than office workers (72%).
Al‐Kandari (2006)54	Kuwait	Urban + rural	21‐77	424	Kuwaitis (212 males and 212 females)	Sociodemographic factors, sociocultural characteristics, dietary habits, and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Findings showed that there was a negative association between BMI and general physical activity and physical activity at work. Also, there was a positive association between BMI and some social variables, including number of relatives living in the same household and number of families living in the same household, while no relationship was found with the number of children in general. But when the data are divided by gender, results showed that there was a significant association between BMI and number of children in women only. There was a positive association between BMI and how often one ate at a restaurant weekly, having a cook in the family, and degree of preferring salt in food.
Al Rashdan and Al‐Nesef (2010)55	Kuwait	Urban + rural	20‐65	2280	Kuwaitis (918 males and 1362 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Overweight and obesity rates were higher in women compared with men. Overweight and obesity were more prevalent in the older age group, aged 55 to 64 y.
Al‐Isa (2003)56	Kuwait	Urban + rural	18 and older	5502	Kuwaitis (2626 males and 2876 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Longer period of study, increased age, urban region, low education, being married, and not working were associated with higher BMI.
Ramadan and Barac‐Nieto (2003)57	Kuwait	Urban	33.43 (1.30)	156	Kuwaitis (72 males and 84 females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender” and physical activity	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Sedentary and low‐frequency physical activity groups of both genders had higher BMI than the active higher‐frequency physical activity groups. Males had higher fat‐free mass than females. The means of fat‐free mass and BMI of sedentary females were higher than those of the more active females with higher frequency of physical activity. In males but not in females, low frequency (less than three sessions per week) of routine PA was associated with lower body weight and body fat compared with sedentary participants.
Musaiger and Radwan (1995)58	Emirates	Urban + rural	18‐30, 19.7 (1.30)	215	Female university students	Sociodemographic factors and dietary habits	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Obesity was the highest in females aged 18 y. There was no significant association between obesity and the social factors studied. The prevalence of obesity was higher in nonnationals, those with educated mothers, having no housemaid, and having a family history of obesity. Skipping meals and snacks had no significant association with obesity.
Al‐Kilani et al (2012)59	Oman	Urban + rural	21.22 (1.37)	202	Omani university students (101 males and 101 females)	Sociodemographic factors, physical activity, and nutrition knowledge	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Male students had a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity than female students. Physical inactivity and lack of basic nutritional knowledge about healthy foods and energy‐dense foods were the main factors associated with overweight and obesity among students.
Al‐Nakeeb et al (2015)60	Qatar	Urban + rural	18‐25, 21.3 (3.80)	732	University students (320 males and 412 females)	Sociodemographic factors, dietary habits, physical activity, and screen time	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Increased screen time, sedentary behaviour, unhealthy diet, and low PA were associated with high BMI.
Borgan et al (2015)61	Bahrain	Urban + rural	30‐69, 45 (10)	152	Physicians (50 males and 102 females)	Sociodemographic factors, sleep duration, physical activity, and screen time	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Physicians with high BMI levels (more than 25) were more likely to be male, older, report fewer than six sleep hours nightly, and have a known diagnosis of hypertension or hyperlipidaemia. There were no significant correlations between increased screen time and obesity.
Al Riyami et al (2010)62	Oman	Urban + rural	60 and older	2027	Elderlies (982 males and 1045 females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender”	Obesity “BMI”	Interview + survey by researcher	Women were more obese than men.
Hajat et al (2012)63	Emirates	Urban + rural	18 and older, 36.82 (14.30)	50 138	Emiratis residing in Abu Dhabi (43% males and 57% females)	Sociodemographic factors	Obesity “BMI and WC”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by specialized nurses	The crude obesity rate was higher among women than among men (38% vs 32%), whereas crude overweight (29% vs 36%) and central obesity (52% vs 59%) rates were lower among women. Males aged 20‐29 were the most overweight and obese category. For females, 30‐39 were the most obese and 20‐29 the most overweight.
Mabry et al (2012)64	Oman	Urban + rural	20 and older, 36.3 (12.5)	1335	Omanis (591 males and 744 females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender” and physical (in)activity “transport inactivity and sitting time”	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + interview	Physical inactivity (transport inactivity in men and sitting time in women) was associated with high BMI.
Musaiger et al (2004)65	Qatar	Urban + rural	20‐67	535	Arab females	Ideal body image	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Ideal body image was not related to BMI.
Al‐Lawati and Jousilahti (2004)66	Oman	Urban + rural	20 and older, 25.3 (5.20) and 25.5 (5.65)	11 486	Omanis (5197 males and 6289 females)	Sociodemographic factors	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Obesity was higher among men than women. Mean BMI increased with increasing age and peaked in the age group 40‐49 in both genders. Obesity was found to be significantly higher among urban compared with rural populations and among southern regions compared with northern regions.
Musaiger and Al‐Ansari (1991)67	Bahrain	Urban + rural	18 and older	420	Participants who attended a women's sports programme	Sociodemographic factors, socio‐economic factors, and dietary habits	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Increased age, low education, unemployment, marriage, and big family size have a positive association with obesity, while ownership of cars, availability of housemaids, family history of obesity, and meal patterns have no significant association. There were no differences in source of nutrition information between obese and non‐obese women.
Al‐Mannai et al (1996)68	Bahrain	Urban + rural	20‐64, 36.4 (13.85)	290	Bahrainis (137 males and 153 females)	Sociodemographic factors and socio‐economic factors	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Females had a significantly higher prevalence of overweight and obesity compared with males. Participants living in urban areas had a greater tendency to be obese than those residing in rural areas. Marriage, ownership of a car, and a large family (more than seven members) were positively associated with obesity. The educational level was not associated with obesity in either males or females. The age of adult females was not found to be associated with obesity, whereas in males, the incidence of obesity was more frequent among those who were 50 y of age and above than among those under 50 y of age. Family monthly income was not associated with the incidence of obesity.
Shah et al (2015)69	Emirates	Urban	20‐59, 34 (9.80)	1375	South Asian male migrants	Sociodemographic factors	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Nationality, increased age, high monthly salary, low education, working as a driver, salesman, or office worker, having a business or working as shopkeeper or tailor, type of current accommodation, urban residence in their country of origin, being married, longer duration of residency in the Emirates, and being hypertensive were the factors significantly associated with being overweight or obese.
Carter et al (2003)70	Emirates	Urban	19‐27, 22	175	University medical students (30% males and 70% females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender”	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Males were more likely to be overweight or obese than females.
Al‐Riyami and Afifi (2003)71	Oman	Urban + rural	20 and older, 38.37 (16.65)	3506	Omani males	Smoking	Obesity “BMI and WHR”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by researcher	Current smokers had low BMI compared with nonsmokers and ex‐smokers. Current light smokers had low BMI compared with ex‐smokers. No association of central obesity to smoking status was found.
Carter et al (2004)72	Emirates	Urban	20 and older	535	Females citizens of Al Ain	Sociodemographic factors “gender and education”	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by trained staff	Obesity was associated with increased age and low education for women. Postmenopausal women had lower physical activity and higher rates of obesity than premenopausal women.
Rehmani et al (2013)73	Saudi Arabia	Urban	14 and older	1339	Adults living in National Guard housing in the eastern region (769 males and 570 females)	Sociodemographic factors “age, gender, and education”	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements and blood samples by trained staff	Men were significantly more overweight or obese than women. Overweight or obesity increased with age and decreased among participants aged 55 y or older. Higher overweight and obesity levels were related to lower education.
Khalid et al (1997)74	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	15‐60 highlanders 35.2 (16.5) and lowlanders 34.8 (15.7)	498 highlanders (261) and lowlanders (237)	Arab and Saudi national males in Alraish, Alsoda, and Alsoga.	Sociodemographic factors “age” and area	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Anthropometric measurements by researcher	Lowlanders were significantly heavier and taller than highlanders. However, there was no significant difference in BMI level between highlanders and lowlanders. In both highlanders and lowlanders, BMI increased gradually with increased age until the age of 50 y and decreased afterward.
Khalid and Ali (1994)75	Saudi Arabia	Urban + rural	Highlanders 17‐72 and lowlanders 17‐76	919 highlanders (451) and lowlanders (468)	Saudi citizens in Alraish and Alsoda highlanders (238 males and 213 females) and lowlanders (189 males and 279 females)	Sociodemographic factors “age and gender” and area	Overweight and obesity “BMI”	Anthropometric measurements by researcher	The highlanders (55.7%) were more overweight or obese than lowlanders (42.9%). Among highlanders only, women were significantly more overweight or obese than men. Both highlanders and lowlanders had higher prevalence of overweight or obesity after the age of 39 y.
Binhemd et al (1991)76	Saudi Arabia	Urban	18‐74	1072	Patients who attended a primary health care centre of King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al‐Khobar (477 males and 595 females)	Sociodemographic factors “gender and age”	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by trained staff	Women had a higher obesity rate than men (31.26% vs 16.5%). Obesity was not significantly associated with age.
Al‐Awadi and Amine (1989)77	Kuwait	‐	‐	2999	Females living in Kuwait	Sociodemographic factors	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by trained staff	The prevalence of obesity increased gradually with age, low education, low level of husbands' education, low income, nonworking females, increased family size, and large number of children. However, the prevalence of overweight increased with decreased age, high education, high level of husbands' education, high income, females with a technical profession, decreased family size, and low number of children.
Kordy and El‐Gamal (1995)78	Saudi Arabia	Urban	16 and older	1037	Saudi citizens in Queza district, Jeddah (611 males and 426 females)	Sociodemographic factors “age and gender”	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by trained staff	BMI significantly increased with age. BMI was significantly higher in females compared with males.
Amine and Samy (1996)79	Emirates	Urban + rural	18 and older	566	Female university students	Sociodemographic factors, snack intake, physical activity, and napping	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey + anthropometric measurements by trained staff	Obesity increased with increased age, obesity during childhood, the presence of an obese parent or both, and high food intake between meals and in particular fast foods. Low levels of physical activity and long afternoon napping were related to obesity.
Musaiger and Al‐Mannai (2013)80	Kuwait	Urban + rural	19‐25	228	Kuwaiti university female students	Media	Obesity “BMI”	Self‐administered survey	Females with obesity were two to three times more likely to be influenced by mass media to undergo dieting to lose weight than those who were not obese. Differences were statistically significant for reading women's magazines and using the internet; however, they were not significant for watching television.

In the “Main Findings” column, physical (in)activity results are in bold font, dietary habits results are in italic font, sociodemographic results are in regular font, and miscellaneous results are in italic bold font.