Table 1.
Prevalence and Estimation Studies of Risk Factors of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait
| Place of study | Study | Main findings | Ref. |
| Dubai, UAE | Cross-sectional study to access prevalence of MetS and its associated risk factors among children and adolescents (596 students) | Prevalence of MetS was 3.7%; was more common among boys than girls (12 boys versus 10 girls); 18.6% were overweight; 21.2% were obese; MetS was more commonly found in obese (16%) compared to overweight students (2%) | Haroun et al[81], 2018 |
| Abu Dhabi, UAE | Multicenter cohort study to determine cardiovascular risk factor prevalence rates (50138 participants) | 35% were obese, 32% were overweight, 55% had central obesity, 18% were diabetic, 27% were prediabetic; Age-standardized diabetes and prediabetes rates were 25% and 30%, respectively; Age-standardized obesity and overweight rates were 41% and 34%, respectively | Hajat et al[12], 2012 |
| UAE | Systematic review and qualitative synthesis of prevalence, incidence rates, trends, and Economic Burden of Obesity and cardiometabolic disorder (36 studies) | All studies reported high prevalence rates for obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and MetS; Obesity and related cardiometabolic disorders seem highly prevalent in the UAE but estimating an accurate occurrence is challenging due to methodological heterogeneity of the epidemiological studies addressing them; Frequency of overweight and obesity was reported to increase by 2-3-fold between 1989 and 2017 | Radwan et al[13], 2018 |
| Saudi Arabia | Survey to determine obesity prevalence and associated factors (n = 10293) | 28.7% of the population evaluated were obese; Obesity prevalence was higher among women (33.5%) than men (24.1%) | Memish et al[14], 2014 |
| Saudi Arabia | Secondary analysis to estimate the trends in the prevalence of adult obesity over the period 1992–2022 (5 studies) | Obesity trend from 1992-2005: In men, the prevalence increased from (1) 10.1% to 27.1% in age-group 25-34 yr; and (2) 12.9% to 31.0% in age group 55-64 yr. In women, obesity prevalence was higher; increased from (1) 16.1% to 39.5% in age group 25-34 yr; and (2) 22.8% to 53.2% in age group 55-64 yr. Obesity projection from 1992-2022: The future obesity prevalence was estimated to increase from (1) 12% to 41% in men; and (2) 21% to 78% in women | Al-Quwaidhi et al[15], 2014 |
| Saudi Arabia | Cross sectional study to evaluate the prevalence of MetS | The prevalence of MetS in Saudi Arabia was found to be 39.8% (34.4% in men and 29.2% in women) as per the NCEP ATP III and 31.6% (45.0% in men and 35.4% in women) as per IDF criteria | Al-Rubeaan et al[26], 2018 |
| Kuwait | Observational study (multicenter) to examine the prevalence of MetS and its components (992 adults ≥ 20 yr) | Obesity percentage was significantly greater in females (54.7%) compared to males (32.3%); Abdominal obesity was the most predominant MetS abnormality; Prevalence of MetS increased with age and was higher in females than males | Al Zenki et al[82], 2012 |
| Kuwait | Cross-sectional survey to estimate prevalence of overweight, obesity, and various types of adiposity (3589 adults, 18-69 yr) | Overall obesity prevalence was 40.3% (men, 36.5%; women, 44.0%); The prevalence of Class I, Class II, and Class III obesity was 24.9%, 9.9%, and 5.5%, respectively | Weiderpass et al[83], 2019 |
| Kuwait | Descriptive, cross-sectional survey (multicenter) to understand the prevalence of MetS, and estimation of the 10-year risk for developing T2DM and CHD (n = 1610) | 4% subjects were found to have screen detected T2DM. A history of high blood glucose levels was reported by 18.0% subjects; 35.5% of the participants were obese; MetS was present in about 32% of the participants; Almost 30% of participants were found to be at moderate/high/very high risk of developing T2DM within the next 10 yr; 8.45% were found to be at moderate/high/very high risk of developing both T2DM/CHD within the next 10 yr | Awad et al[84], 2014 |
IDF: International Diabetes Federation; MetS: Metabolic syndrome; NCEP ATP III: National Cholesterol Education Program and Adult Treatment Panel III; T2DM: Type 2 diabetes mellitus; UAE: United Arab Emirates.