Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity among Students in University of Kerbala

I. Al-Ghabban, Saad

	Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity among Students in University of Kerbala
Medical Journal of Babylon
Article 1, Volume 10, Issue 1, 2013, Pages 205-218
Author
Saad I. Al-Ghabban
Abstract
Background: Overweight and obesity are major public health problems because of their impact on co-morbidity they are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases. Recent data worldwide show an absolute increase in the prevalence of obesity in recent years Objective: To study the prevalence and factors associated with overweight and obesityamong college students of University of Kerbala in Holy Kerbala, Iraq. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study started from 1st March 2010 – 26th April 2010, a total of 463 students (219 male and 244 female) between 18 and 32 years of age (mean 21.28 ± 1.91 year) were selected randomly from the 11 colleges of the university. A questionnaire was distributed to each subject; Age, gender, dietary habits, sport activity, family history of obesity; number of households, monthly family income, were considered, weight, height, waist circumference; were measured, and BMI was calculated and used to assess weight status. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 16.0, P-value greater than 0.05 was considered as statistically insignificant. Results: The mean BMI was 23.58 ± 3.78 kg/m²; about two thirds (65.9%) of the students were of normal weight (60.7% of the male students and 70.5% of the female students); whereas the prevalence of overweight and that of obesity among them was 22.9% and 5.6% respectively. The prevalence of overweight was more common among male students compared to females (27.4% vs. 18.9% respectively), while the prevalence of underweight and obesity were not significantly different between them (5.6% vs. 5.3% respectively for both variables). Depending on their waist circumference, 4.6% of the males and 20.9% of the females were at higher risk of developing obesity comorbidities. There was a significantly higher mean BMI (t=4.905) and waist circumference (t= 3.825) within students with family history of obesity; (P<0.001 for both variables).Male students who reported that they used to practice regular sport activity had significantly lower body mass index and waist circumference. Conclusions: This study supports the fact that obesity is a multifactorial problem; it shows that male gender and family history of obesity are risk factors, while regular sport activity is a protective factor.
Keywords
prevalence; Overweight; Obesity; students; Holy Kerbala; Cross; sectional study; Lifestyle factors

Statistics Article View: 37 PDF Download: 5