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Hazzaa Al-Hazzaa

Hazzaa Al-Hazzaa
Princess Nourah bint Abdul Rahman University

PhD, FACSM, FECSS

About

192
Publications
123,512
Reads
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Introduction
Emeritus Professor & former director of Pediatric Exercise Physiology Research Lab at King Saud University (KSU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I also served on the scientific board, Obesity Research Chair, College of Medicine, KSU. In addition, I held a joint position (2011-2014) as a visiting research professor, Coventry University & on Newman University, both in UK. I earned my BSc degree in Biology with Chemistry minor from KSU & Master and PhD degrees in Exercise Physiology from USA.

Publications

Publications (192)
Article
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This study investigated the cross-cultural differences and similarity in health behaviors between Saudi and British adolescents. A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted at four cities in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh and Al-Khobar; N = 1,648) and Britain (Birmingham and Coventry; N = 1,158). The participants (14-18 year-olds) were randomly select...
Article
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Background: Numerous studies have shown significant associations between short sleep duration and overall or abdominal obesity. However, no study has reported on the joint association of body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) with sleep duration in adolescents. Aim: To examine the joint associations of BMI and WHtR with sleep dur...
Article
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Background: Few studies have reported comprehensive and valid physical activity (PA) data for Saudi youth. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine patterns and determinants of PA among Saudi adolescents. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Saudi secondary schools (15-19 years) during 2009/2010 and used multistage strati...
Article
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Understanding the inter-relationships between lifestyle factors in youth is important with respect to the development of effective promotional programmes for healthy eating and active living. The present study aimed to explore the associations of dietary habits (DH) with physical activity (PA) and screen time (ST) among Saudi adolescents aged betwe...
Article
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Adequate sleep has been considered important for the adolescent's health and well being. On the other hand, self-imposed sleep curtailment is now recognized as a potentially important and novel risk factor for obesity. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of short sleep duration and its association with obesity among Saudi adolescents....
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Introduction: Saudi Arabia’s life expectancy increases highlight healthcare improvements and chronic disease management challenges. This study aimed to evaluate the association between physical behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep) and the Continuous Metabolic Syndrome risk score (cMSy) in older adults from Saudi Arabia. Met...
Conference Paper
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Background: Self-rated health serves as a valid indicator in public health research. Engaging in regular physical activity (PA), reducing sedentary behavior (SB), and ensuring sufficient sleep offer health benefits throughout the lifespan. However, in Saudi Arabia, little is known about how SB, PA, and sleep assessed through accelerometry differ am...
Article
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Background Physical behaviors such physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep are associated with mortality, but there is a lack of epidemiological data and knowledge using device-measured physical behaviors. Purpose To assess the feasibility of baseline data collection using the Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting, and Sleep consortium (...
Article
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Background Physical inactivity is a major public health concern, exacerbated in countries with a (sub)tropical climate. The built environment can facilitate physical activity; however, current evidence is mainly from North American and European countries with activity-friendly climate conditions. This study explored associations between built envir...
Article
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Background Insufficient physical activity (PA) was estimated to cause 4.8% of deaths and 2.6% of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to noncommunicable diseases in Saudi Arabia in 2019. While Saudi Arabia is already achieving great improvements, we predict the health and economic burden of insufficient PA up to 2040 to present a case for pol...
Article
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Background The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region faces unique challenges in promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviors, as the prevalence of insufficient physical activity is higher than the global average. Mobile technologies present a promising approach to delivering behavioral interventions; however, little is known ab...
Article
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Summary Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data...
Article
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The concept of health span is an emerging topic in recent years, with a truly palpable relevance to public health. With ageing comes a loss of skeletal muscle mass, strength, and performance, which is termed as sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is a major public health concern and poses a challenge to health-care systems. Modifiable lifestyle factors may be l...
Article
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The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures implemented to control it have led to widespread lifestyle changes globally. While previous studies have explored these effects across different age groups, this research focuses uniquely on college students in Kuwait. A cross-sectional study (N = 1259) was conducted among college students using a validated on...
Preprint
BACKGROUND The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region faces unique challenges in promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviors, as the prevalence of insufficient physical activity is higher than the global average. Mobile technologies present a promising approach to delivering behavioral interventions; however, little is known ab...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Understanding the factors that influence adolescent's perception of fast food and their fluid consumption is crucial for designing effective nutrition education programs tailored to this population. This study aimed to evaluate the associations of sex and the use of media and the internet with adolescents' perception of fast foods and...
Article
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Objective This study aimed to review health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) policies and initiatives introduced in Saudi Arabia (SA) since 2016 and identify the gaps in their design and implementation. Methods A combination of methods was used, including semi-structured interviews with key informants from relevant entities (such as those from t...
Article
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Background Developing global evidence on the influence of health-related behaviors (e.g., sedentary behavior, diet) and mobility limitations on health requires global consortia from diverse sets of countries. Thus, the purpose was to translate and culturally adapt (i) the Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ); (ii) the Dietary Habits Questionnaire...
Article
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Background: As Saudi Arabia is expected to face population aging in the future, the burden of diseases arising from inadequate physical activity (PA) and excess sedentary behavior (SB) may subsequently increase without successful interventions. The present study critically reviews the global literature on the effectiveness of PA interventions targ...
Article
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Background: Saudi Arabia is experiencing rapid development of the built environment and implementing policy changes to promote physical activity (PA) and reduce sedentary behavior (SB) among its population. In light of these developments, this scoping review systematically summarized population levels of PA/SB in Saudi Arabia. Methods: The autho...
Article
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Background Physical inactivity among the general population is of great concern in public health. Objective This narrative review aims to identify promising physical activity (PA) public policies based on the best available evidence from the literature. Methods The study is a narrative synthesis of ‘reviews of reviews’ of public policies designed...
Article
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Background Lifestyle behaviors are developed during young adulthood and carried through life. Accordingly, early detection of unhealthy behaviors can help prevent the increase in non-communicable diseases in the population. College students are an especially vulnerable group who, upon entering a new environment, tend to engage in unhealthy behavior...
Article
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Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6 . Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural an...
Article
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Background: In Saudi Arabia, stay-at-home orders to address the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic between March 15 and 23, 2020 and eased on May 28, 2020. We conducted a scoping review to systematically describe physical activity and sedentary behavior in Saudi Arabia associated with the timing of the lockdown. Methods: We searched si...
Article
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This study aims to analyze the associations between whole-body reaction-movement time (RT) and anaerobic power performance among Saudi athletes participating in different sports. Fifty athletes (age 18-26 years) of four different sport groups representing sprinters (SP, n=12), fencers (FN, n=13), table tennis player (TT, n=12) long-distance runner...
Article
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Objective To compare three body mass index (BMI) classifications that are used to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Saudi children aged 6–13 years: the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) age and gender cutoffs, the World Health Organization (WHO) growth references for school-aged children, and the Saudi (KSA) national growt...
Article
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Background: Sedentary behaviors (SB) are very prevalent nowadays. Prolonged sitting associates with chronic disease risks and increased mortality even while controlling for physical activity. Objective measurement of SB is costly, requires technical expertise, and is challenging in terms of time and management. Currently, there is no validated sel...
Article
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This study was designed to investigate the level and associations of physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep, and dietary habits among Saudi women attending fitness centers in Riyadh. A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out from 12 fitness centers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A total of 460 participants answered a two-part survey self-...
Article
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This study investigated the accuracy of self-reported weight among Kuwaiti adolescents and the associations of self-reported weight and calculated BMI with the impact of media use on adolescent’s decision to lose weight and body thinness perception. A total of 706 Kuwaiti adolescents (363 females) 15–18 year-olds were randomly selected from schools...
Article
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Objective: Exercise is highly essential for a healthy life. The athletes drink water to restore the body fluid volume and salt ingredients during the exercise. It is postulated that the blood parameters of athletes would greatly be affected if they run more than 10 km in controlled dehydration (without taking liquid) in a hot environment. This stu...
Article
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Saudi Arabia has witnessed recent reforms and positive socio-political changes that have led to increased opportunities for women to participate in fitness centers. This study investigated protein supplement consumption among Saudi females compared with that among males and examined the knowledge and attitudes of the participants toward protein sup...
Article
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Objective Recently, the State of Kuwait has witnessed a steady rise in the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents. The present study aims to provide an update on the rate of overweight or obesity among Kuwaiti adolescents and examines the associations between adolescents’ overweight/obesity levels and their perception of body weight a...
Article
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The aim of the study was to examine the anthropometric measurements, sociodemographics, and lifestyle behaviors among Saudi adolescents relative to sex and physical activity (PA). A random cross-sectional survey conducted on Saudi adolescents from secondary schools in Riyadh, using a multistage stratified cluster sampling technique. Measurements in...
Conference Paper
Introduction: the current study aimed at assessing the associations of academic achievement indicators with lifestyle behaviors among Kuwaiti college students relative to gender, geographical location and weight status. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that included 1259 volunteers (682 females, 577 males) with a mean age of 21.5 years. An...
Article
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Introduction COVID-19 pandemic cautionary measures have affected the daily life of people around the globe. Further, understanding the complete lifestyle behaviors profile can help healthcare providers in designing effective interventions and assessing overall health impact on risk of disease development. Thus, this study aims to assess the complet...
Article
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Objective: Undesirable lifestyle behaviors are associated with many adverse health outcomes. This study revisited the lifestyle behaviors, dietary habits, and overweight/obesity status of Saudi adolescents from Riyadh during the year 2019/2020. We report on the rationale, design, and methodology of the current study and provide preliminary finding...
Article
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Objectives. To determine the prevalence of physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviors (SB) and sleep duration and the associations between those variables among Kuwaiti Physical Education (PE) College students. Methods. A total of 418 participants (220 females) were randomly selected from the Basic Education College in the Public Authority for App...
Article
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Purpose The Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) Studies have estimated that low back pain is one of the costliest ailments worldwide. Subsequent to GBD publications, leadership of the four largest global spine societies agreed to form SPINE20. This article introduces the concept of SPINE20, the recommendations, and the future of this global advocacy gr...
Article
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From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in di...
Article
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From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in di...
Article
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Background The number of children with obesity has increased in Saudi Arabia, which is a significant public health concern. Early diagnosis of childhood obesity and screening of the prevalence is needed using a simple in situ method. This study aims to generate statistical equations to predict body fat percentage (BF%) for Saudi children by employi...
Article
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Objective To examine body image perception and the associations of body dissatisfaction (BD) with socio-demographic and lifestyle factors among Saudi women attending fitness centers in Riyadh. Methods Saudi females aged 16 years and older were recruited from 12 randomly selected fitness centers in Riyadh, using stratified clustered sampling techni...
Article
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We investigated breakfast eating habits and lifestyle behaviors among Saudi school children attending public versus private schools. A random sample of 1149 children (girls: 54.4%) from public and private schools was selected from elementary schools using the multistage stratified cluster method. Measurements included body weight, height, body mass...
Article
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Breakfast is a vital meal that provides children with important nutrients and energy. This study examined the anthropometric, familial-and lifestyle-related characteristics of school children skipping breakfast. A total of 1149 children (boys: 45.5%), 6 to 12 years old (mean and SD: 9.3 ± 1.7 years), were randomly selected from elementary schools i...
Article
Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled anal...
Article
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Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled ana...
Article
Full-text available
Objective To examine the associations of overweight or obesity with several lifestyle and socio-demographic factors among Saudi women attending fitness centers in Riyadh. Methods Saudi females (n = 460) aged 16 years and older were recruited from 12 randomly selected fitness centers in Riyadh, using a stratified clustered sampling technique. Bodyw...
Article
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Background: Breakfast is an important meal that provides essential nutrients and energy. However, few comprehensive studies have reported breakfast habits and related behaviors among Saudi children. This study investigated breakfast consumption patterns and the associations of socio-demographic variables with daily breakfast intake among Saudi chi...
Article
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PurposeTo examine the association of self-esteem with the body mass index (BMI), perceived body image (BI), and desired BI of college-age Saudi females. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted with 907 randomly selected females using a multistage stratified cluster sampling technique. Self-esteem and BI were assessed using the Rosenberg Self-E...
Article
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Background: Physical inactivity, sedentary behaviour and an unhealthy diet are factors that may increase weight and general and/or abdominal obesity. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between general and abdominal obesity and lifestyle factors among adolescents in Qatar. Methods: The study data are based on the Arab Teens Lifestyle Study (ATL...
Article
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Objective Adequate sleep is an important factor for maintaining good health among children. However, there have been few studies reporting on the association of sleep duration with breakfast intake frequency. This study examined the prevalence of nocturnal sleep duration among Saudi children and its association with breakfast intake, screen time, p...
Article
Full-text available
Background and objectives: Lifestyle-related risks are linked to several non-communicable diseases, with enormous global mortality and economic cost. Women in Saudi Arabia are faced with high prevalence of obesity, inactivity and sedentary behaviours. This study examined the interaction effects of gender with obesity status and lifestyle behaviour...
Article
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Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities1,2. This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity3,4,5,6. Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height...
Article
Full-text available
Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities1,2. This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity3–6. Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and...
Article
Full-text available
BACKGROUND Few studies have reported valid comprehensive data on lifestyle habits of Saudi college females. In addition, studies on sedentary behaviors (SBs) and the duration of sleep of Saudi college students are rare. Saudi females appear to be less physically active and therefore, at a higher risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Therefore, t...
Article
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The study examined the associations between lifestyle habits and overweight/obesity among Saudi females attending health science colleges. A total of 454 female students were randomly recruited from five health science colleges at King Saud University, using a multistage stratified cluster sampling technique. Body weight and height were measured, a...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Obesity, physical activity, and sedentary behaviors among Saudi Children and Adolescents: It is time for action Hazzaa Alhazzaa
Article
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Background: Although the benefits of physical activity are well acknowledged, a high percentage of Saudi population, especially females, remain essentially physically inactive. Getting inactive people to start participating in physical activity and to keep exercising remains a great challenge. Physical activity initiatives in the country have not b...
Article
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Abstract Objectives: Saudi Arabia has recently witnessed enormous economic growth accompanied by undesirable lifestyle behaviors, along with an associated increase in non-communicable diseases (NCD’s). This systematic review presents a comprehensive and an updated overview of the status of physical activity (PA) or inactivity among the Saudi popula...
Article
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The aim of the study was to investigate the associations between perceived and desired body size and overweight and obesity among college-aged females. A multistage stratified cluster random sample was used to select 907 healthy females from a major Saudi public university. The Stunkard Figure Rating Scale (FRS) was used for body size assessment. O...
Article
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It is well recognized that unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, such as physical inactivity, sedentary behaviors, unhealthy dietary habits and insufficient sleep are associated with many adverse health outcomes, like weight gain, obesity, reduced cardiorespiratory and musculoskeletal function, less favorable metabolic health, insulin resistance and type...
Article
Full-text available
Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with adverse health consequences throughout the life-course. Our aim was to estimate worldwide trends in mean body-mass index (BMI) and a comprehensive set of BMI categories that cover underweight to obesity in children and adolescents, and to compare trends with those...
Article
Full-text available
BACKGROUND:Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with adverse health consequences throughout the life-course. Our aim was to estimate worldwide trends in mean body-mass index (BMI) and a comprehensive set of BMI categories that cover underweight to obesity in children and adolescents, and to compare trends...
Article
Full-text available
Worldwide trends in body-mass index, underweight, overweight, and obesity from 1975 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 2416 population-based measurement studies in 128•9 million children, adolescents, and adults NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)* Summary Background Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated w...