# Health of school-age children and adolescents in Saudi Arabia: a systematic review

## TL;DR

This review summarizes health conditions and risk factors affecting school-age children and adolescents in Saudi Arabia, highlighting significant data gaps and the need for updated information.

## Contribution

The study identifies major health issues and data gaps in Saudi Arabia's school-age children and adolescents, emphasizing the need for updated national data collection.

## Key findings

- Mental health disorders are the leading cause of morbidity in children aged 5–14, accounting for 19% of the total burden.
- Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among children and adolescents aged 5–14, at 25%.
- Overweight and obesity estimates vary widely across datasets and age groups in Saudi Arabia.

## Abstract

Identifying the leading risk factors and major determinants of morbidity and mortality in school-age children and adolescents is pivotal for health and maintenance of well-being. This review provides an overview of health conditions/risk factors driving morbidity and mortality and identifies gaps in existing data to improve health and development needs in school-age children and adolescents.

PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and official websites of global databases and national surveys were searched from January 2012 until April 2022 for relevant publications reporting the prevalence of health conditions/risk factors that contribute to morbidity and mortality in children/adolescents (5–19 years of age) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

A total of 21 publications were included in the review. Overall, data on children aged 5–9 and 10–19 years old are very scarce except for health conditions assessed in the national school-based screening programs, and only one nationally representative study in 2011 for 10–19 year olds. Data for those ≥ 15 are more prevalent considering they are included in most nationally representative data (e.g., 2013 Saudi Health Interview, the 2018 Household Health, and the 2019 Sports) surveys. However, gaps remain. Overweight and obesity estimates for children and adolescents varied significantly across different datasets and data collection years, ranging from 37% to 18%, respectively, to 6% and 4% for overweight and obesity across different age groups. Mental health disorders were the leading cause of morbidity among children and adolescents aged 5–14-year-old accounting for 19% of the total burden. Road traffic injuries were the leading cause of death among children and adolescents aged 5–14-year-old at 25%.

This review provides a snapshot of the health status of school-age children and adolescents in KSA and highlights the major data gaps especially for those < 10 year old where no nationally representative datasets exist. Many of the data sources for other age groups are not nationally representative or are too old to be useful for recommendations today. There is an urgent need to collect updated and robust data for school aged-children and adolescents in KSA to inform evidence-based policies and priorities. This study was not pre-registered in a publicly accessible registry.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-025-25897-x.