Dietary and Physical Activity Pattern in Fars Province, National Plan of Chronic Disease Risk Factor Surveillance

Changes in lifestyle, especially in different aspects of nutrition and physical activity, have been associated with change in the patterns of diseases, from contagious diseases to non-communicable diseases, and with the prevalence of chronic diseases. Accordingly, this study is carried out within the framework of National Plan to Care for Risk Factors of Non-communicable Diseases with the aim of comparing the dietary patterns and physical activity of people under study in Fars province during 2006-2007. Using the WHO Step-by-step Evaluation Model for Risky Factors, the present study determined fifty 20-person clusters, totally 1,000 people within the age group of 15-64 for each year as the research population. After identifying the applicable people, they were visited at their homes and the questionnaires were filled out for them. The necessary analysis was carried out using Version 6 of EPI-info and Version 10 of STATA software. The findings of the present study indicated that men have more intense physical activity than women (p=0.001). The results also indicated a significant increase in consumption of fruit (p=0.01), vegetable (p=0.001), and fish (p=0.001) in 2007 as compared with 2006. The average number of the consumed vegetable units in women was higher than that of men (p=0.01). The findings of this study indicated that the average number of daily consumed units of fruit and vegetable as well as the frequencies of fish consumption per week was lower than the recommended amounts.