A Survey of Factors Affecting the Prevalence of Obesity, Overweight, and Central Obesity among Urban adults Referred to Birjand Health Centers in 2017

Obesity is one of the most public health challenges in the 21st century, which has increased in most countries during the last decade. This study aimed to determine factors affecting the prevalence of obesity, overweight, and central obesity among urban adults referred to Birjand health centers in 2017.

In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the data of all individuals who were registered in the Integrated health application system of Birjand (SIB) from April 2016 until March 2017 by census method. A checklist was designed to include the participants’ demographic characteristics, weight, height, and waist circumference. After coordinating with the health department of Birjand University of Medical Sciences, the authors logged in to the SIB system, collected and entered the data into the checklist. Then, the authors analyzed data using chi-square, independent sample T-test, and ANOVA tests by SPSS-22 software.

In the present study, 10,000 people participated. Their average age was of 44.3±11.8 years. The majority were females 7190 (71.9%) out of which 4827 (48.3%)were in the age group of 30 to 40 years old. The prevalence of overweight, obesity, and central obesity in urban adults who registered in the SIB system in Birjand was 3539 (35.4%), 1968 (19.7%), and 4847 (48.5%), respectively. These features for women were significantly higher than men in all age groups.

These findings revealed that obesity and abdominal obesity were high in urban adults in Birjand, which requires immediate intervention to improve the obesity status.