On the Relationship Between Lifestyles and Obesity in Adult Working Women in Dhaka

Obesity has been considered as a major public health problem across the globe, and Bangladesh is not an exception in this regard.

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between lifestyles and obesity among adult working women in Dhaka.

This cross-sectional study was carried out using face-to-face interviews from January 2017 to June 2018. In this study, 226 working women from a public hospital and a public bank were selected using convenient sampling and then interviewed. The relationship between lifestyles and obesity was examined using pretested semi-structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software version 23 using chi-square (χ2), paired-sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA tests.

The mean age of the participants was 37.35 ± 6.80 years, ranging from 23 - 55 years. About 44% were overweight and 16.0% were obese. Older age (P = 0.02), marriage (P = 0.01), greater number of children (P = 0.01), and more income (P = 0.01) were significantly associated with obesity. The participants who skip their breakfast three or more times and skip their main meal one to two times or more in a week showed higher BMI, which was statistically significant.

Marriage, aging, more affluence, and less physical exercise were found as major risk factors for obesity. The findings of this study can provide the appropriate ground for monitoring the effectiveness of national programs in order to prevent and control obesity in Bangladesh, especially among women.