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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1443756

Associations of adolescent obesity with Hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus and Polycystic Ovaries between Arabs and Jews in Israel -a nationwide study

Provisionally accepted
Yulia Treister-Goltzman Yulia Treister-Goltzman 1*Dan Nemet Dan Nemet 2,3Idan Menashe Idan Menashe 1
  • 1 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva, Israel
  • 2 Maccabi Tel Aviv FC, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 3 Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background. Previous studies on the association of adolescent obesity with comorbid diseases in Israel were conducted predominantly in the Israeli Jewish population. Goal. To compare associations of adolescent obesity with Hypertension (HTN), Diabetes Mellitus type 2 (DM2), and Polycystic ovaries (PCO), singly or in combination, between Arabs and Jews in Israel. Methods. A cross-sectional study of 313,936 Arab adolescents aged 14-19 years between the years 2007-2022, and 289,616 adolescents in a matched Jewish comparison group. Results. The crude prevalence of comorbidities increased consistently from the 'underweight' to the 'class 3 obesity' category (from 0.24% to 6.41%, from 0.32% to 4.59%, and from 0.49% to 5.35% for HTN, DM2 and PCO, respectively). Compared to the reference ʻnormal weight' category, an incremental increase of aOR was observed by increasing weight category. The aORs for the c ʻ lass 3 obesity' category (95% CIs) were 26.00 for HTN, DM2, and PCO, respectively. In the Jewish comparison group, lower aORs for HTN and DM2 were observed in the 'class 3 obesity' category. The increase in aORs with the increase in weight categories was more striking in cases of multiple comorbidities.The finding of a strong association of obesity severity with major cardiometabolic consequences in adolescence, as well as the unique ethnic features of these associations, can help focus national health initiatives on vulnerable adolescent groups.

    Keywords: adolescent obesity, severe obesity, Hypertension, Diabetes mellitus type 2, polycystic ovaries, comorbidities

    Received: 28 Jun 2024; Accepted: 29 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Treister-Goltzman, Nemet and Menashe. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yulia Treister-Goltzman, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva, Israel

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