RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY AMONG ADULTS OF DHARAN SUB-METROPOLITAN CITY

Abstract

Overweight and obesity is becoming one of the major public health problems in developing countries. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the risk factors associated with overweight and obesity among adults of 18-59 years in Dharan sub-metropolitan city. Anthropometric measurements were conducted by measuring height with the help of stadiometer, weight with the help of weighing balance and waist and hip with the help of non-stretchable measuring tape. Weight, height, waist circumference and hip circumference were measured to determine indicators related to overweight and obesity. Chi-square tests were performed to establish the association between different categories, analysis was performed to establish the strength and direction of the relationship between variables. Microsoft excel 2013 and SPSS version 20 was used to analyze data. 44.5% respondents were overweight and 18.0% were obese. While based on WHR, 77.5% (male) and 80.4% (female) abdominally obese and based on WC, 17.34% (male) and 57.84% (female) were abdominally obese. The study showed that age, marital status, contraceptives, alcoholic drinks and thyroid problem were significantly associated (P<0.05) with BMI (WHO cutoff). The main associating factors with abdominal overweight and obesity were age, marital status, gender, education, contraceptives, alcoholic drinks, thyroid problem, whole dal and polished dal were found to have significant association (P<0.05) with waist circumference measurement. The main associating factors with abdominal overweight and obesity (WHO cut-off) were age, marital status, gender, education, contraceptives, alcoholic drinks, thyroid problem, wheat, fast foods and egg were found to have significant association (P<0.05) with waist to hip ratio measurement.