PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY AMONG ADULTS RESIDING IN DHARAN SUB-METROPOLITAN CITY

Abstract

The objective of this work is to examine prevalence and risk factors associated with overweight and obesity among adults residing in Dharan city. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 202 adults aged from 18 to 59 years old. To determine the risk factors related to overweight and obesity (i.e. BMI and WHC) height, weight, waist circumference and hip circumference were measured with the help of stadiometer, weighing balance and non-stretchable measuring tape respectively. A structured questionnaire was administrated to participants for demographic, socio-economic information, physical activity and diet behaviour. Chi-square tests were performed to establish association between different categories, analysis was performed to establish the strength and direction of the relationship between variables. For the analysis, Microsoft package 13 (Excel and Word) and SPSS version 20 was used. The overall prevalence of underweight was revealed to be 7.8%, normal to be 42.6%, overweight was found to be 30.9% and obessed to be 17.6% as defined by WHO. While 55.4% were abdominally obese according to WC standards and 51.5% according to WHR standards. The mean BMI was found to be 25.33±5.88kg/m2 and WC was 88.8±14.8 with 0.99±0.09 WHR. Factors like age, marital status, gender, protein intake, salt intake, calories intake, education, fats food consumption, occupation, stress and fast-food consumption were discovered to be significantly associated with overweight and obesity. To summarize, overweight and obesity is an arising global crisis that needs to be attended immediately