PREVALENCE OF OBESITY AND OVERWEIGHT IN A FEMALE POPULATION REFERRING TO HEALTH CARE CENTERS

Background and Aim: Obesity is a complex status with important psychological and social dimensions. This study was conducted to determine the Prevalence of obesity and overweight in a female population referring to Health Care Centers and also the relationship between some demographic factors and BMI in women referring to health centers.Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study. Using cluster random sampling, 899 women referring to health centers were studied. The Prevalence of obesity and overweight and also the relationship between BMI and level of education, marital status, occupation and age was studied through multiple linear regression method.Results: The prevalence of overweight and Obesity was 39.4% and 13.2%, respectively. The mean (±SD) age of the participants was 30.7±10.2. Of 899 women 80.3% were housekeeper and 83% were married. The mean (±SD) BMI of the participants was 25.5±3.9. Age and marital status had a relationship with BMI that was statistically significant (P<0.0001). Level of education also showed a statistically significant but inverse relationship with mean of BMI (P=0.005). The relationship between BMI and occupation was not significant in the regression model (P=0.14).Conclusion: Older age, being married, and low level of education are among the factors influencing BMI.

Keywords:

Obesity , overweight , Women , prevalence