Prevalence of obesity, central obesity, and associated socio-demographic variables in Syrian women using different anthropometric indicators

M Adel Bakir; Kholoud Hammad; Loreen Mohammad

doi:10.1515/anre-2017-0013

Authors

M Adel Bakir Radiation Medicine Department, Atomic Energy Commission of Syria (AECS), Damascus, Syria
Kholoud Hammad Radiation Medicine Department, Atomic Energy Commission of Syria (AECS), Damascus, Syria
Loreen Mohammad Radiation Medicine Department, Atomic Energy Commission of Syria (AECS), Damascus, Syria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1515/anre-2017-0013

Keywords:

Body mass index, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, socio-demographic data

Abstract

The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing globally in both developing and developed countries, especially, those with rapid cultural and social changes. The aims of current study were twofold: (a) to examine, for the first time in Syria, the prevalence of overweight, obesity and central obesity in Syrian women and obesity-related socio-demographic determinants, and (b) to establish a base line data about obesity related determinants needed to develop appropriate treatment and prevention strategies. Cross-sectional study with a randomly representative sample of 923 women aged 18-60 years was conducted. Waist (WC) and hip circumference (HC) were measured, and body mass index (BMI) waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were calculated. Socio-demographic data were collected with a designed questionnaire. The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity in Syrian women as defined by BMI were 31% and 43%, respectively. The overall central obesity as defined by WC and WHR were 53% and 33%, respectively. The prevalence of obesity and central obesity were increased with age. WC and HC were strongly correlated with BMI. The mean BMIs and other anthropometric measurements were significantly higher in married, house wife, less educated, high parity, and low physical activity women. The results of this study indicate an increased rates of overweight, overall, and central obesity in Syrian women. Also, central obesity as defined by WC is higher than BMI derived obesity. In conclusion, WC is more appropriate to be used for obesity assessment, where, BMI underestimates the obesity prevalence among middle-age women. Development of appropriate treatment and prevention strategies are urgently needed to combat with increasing rate of obesity among Syrian women.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Al-Mahroos F, Al-Roomi K. 2001. Obesity among adults Bahraini population: impact of physical activity and education level. Ann Saudi Med 21(3-4):183–87.
View in Google Scholar

Alsaif MA, Hakim IA, Harris RB. Alduwaihy M, Al-Rubeaan K, Al-Nuaim AR, Al-Attas OS. 2002. Prevalence and risk factors of obesity and overweight in adult Saudi population. Nutr Res 22(11):1243–52.
View in Google Scholar

Al-Riyami AA, Afifi MM. 2003. Prevalence and correlates of obesity and central obesity among Omani adults. Saudi Med J 24(6):641–46.
View in Google Scholar

Aekplakorn W, Chaiyapong Y, Neal B, Chariyalertsak S, Kunanusont C, Phoolcharoen W, Suriyawongpaisal P. 2004. Prevalence and determinants of overweight and obesity in Thai adults: results of the Second National Health Examination Survey. J Med Assoc Thai 87(6): 685–93.
View in Google Scholar

Al-Nozha MM, Al-Hazzaa HM, Arafah MR. Al-Khadra A, Al-Mazrou YY, Al-Maatoug MA, Khan NB, Al-Marzouki K, Al-Harthi SS, Abdullah M, Al-Shahid MS. 2007. Prevalence of physical activity and inactivity among Saudis aged 30–70 years: a population-based study. Saudi Med J 28(4):559–68.
View in Google Scholar

Bland JM, Altman DG. 1986. Statistical methods for assessing agreement between two methods of clinical measurement. Lancet 1(8476):307–10.
View in Google Scholar

Bell AC, Ge K, Popkin BM. 2001. Weight gain and its predictors in Chinese adults. Int J Obes 25:1079–86.
View in Google Scholar

Bigaard J, Frederiksen K, Tjønneland A, Thomsen BL, Overvad K, Heitmann BL, Sørensen TI. 2004. Waist and hip circumferences and all-cause mortality: usefulness of the waist-to-hip ratio? Int J Obes 28(6):741–47.
View in Google Scholar

Bahrami H, Sadatsafavi M, Pourshams A, Kamangar F, Nouraei M, Semnani S, Brennan P, Boffetta P, Malekzadeh R. 2006. Obesity and hypertension in an Iranian cohort study; Iranian women experience higher rates of obesity and hypertension than American women. BMC Public Health 6:158.
View in Google Scholar

Calle EE, Rodriguez C, Walker-Thurmond K, Thun MJ. 2003. Overweight, obesity, and mortality from cancer in a prospectively studied cohort of U.S. adults. N Engl J Med 348(17):1625–38.
View in Google Scholar

Deurenberg-Tap M, Chew SK, Lin VFP, Tan BY, Staveren WA V, Deuberg P. 2001. Relationships between indices of obesity and its co-morbidities in multiethnic Singapore. Int J Obes 25:1554–62.
View in Google Scholar

Dalton M, Cameron AJ, Zimmet PZ. Shaw JE, Jolley D, Dunstan DW, Welborn TA, Aus-Diab Steering Committee. 2003. Waist circumference, waist-hip ratio and body mass index and their correlation with cardiovascular disease risk factors in Australian adults. J Intern Med 254(6):555–63.
View in Google Scholar

Fouad MF, Rastam S, Ward KD, Maziak W. 2006. Prevalence of obesity and its associated factors in Aleppo, Syria. Prev Control 2(2):85–94.
View in Google Scholar

FAO Statistics Division. 2010. Food Balance Sheets, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome, Italy. Available at: http://faostat.fao.org/
View in Google Scholar

Gallagher D, Visser M, Sepulveda D, Pierson RN, Harris T, Heymsfield SB. 1996. How useful is body mass index for comparison of body fatness across age, sex, and ethnic groups? Am J Epidemiol 143:228–39.
View in Google Scholar

Hubert HB, Feinleib M, McNamara PM, Castelli WP. 1983. Obesity as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease: a 26-year follow-up of participants in the Framingham Heart Study. Circulation 67(5):968–77.
View in Google Scholar

Heseker H, Schmid A. 2000. Epidemiology of obesity. Ther Umsch 57:478–81.
View in Google Scholar

Hu FB, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ. Colditz G, Liu S, Solomon CG, Willett WC. 2001. Diet, lifestyle, and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in women. N Engl J Med 345(11):790–97.
View in Google Scholar

James PT, Leach R, Kalamara E, Shayeghi M. 2001. The worldwide obesity epidemic. Obes Res. 9(Suppl 4):228–33.
View in Google Scholar

Janssen I. 2007. Morbidity and mortality risk associated with an overweight BMI in order men and women. Obesity (Silver Spring) 15:1827–40.
View in Google Scholar

Janghorbani M, Amini MWC. 2007. First nationwide survey of prevalence of overweight, underweight , and abdominal obesity in Iranian adults. Obesity 15(11):2797–808.
View in Google Scholar

Kac G, Velasquez-Melendez G, Coelho MA. 2001. Factors associated with abdominal obesity among childbearing-age women. Res Saudi Publica 35:46–61.
View in Google Scholar

Montague CT, O’Rahilly S. 2000. The perils of portliness: causes and consequences of visceral adiposity. Diabetes 49(6):883–88.
View in Google Scholar

Martinez-Ros MT, Tormo MJ, Navarro C, Chirlaque MD, Perez-Flores D. 2001. Extremely high prevalence of overweight and obesity in Murcia, a Mediterranean region in south-east Spain. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 25:1372–80.
View in Google Scholar

Musaiger AO, Al-Ansari M. 2003. Factors associated with obesity among women in Bahrain. Int Q Community Health Educ 27(1):134–39.
View in Google Scholar

Musaiger AO. 2004. Overweight and obesity in the Eastern Mediterranean region: can we control it? East Mediterr Health J 10(6):789–93.
View in Google Scholar

McLaren L. 2007. Socioeconomic status and obesity. Epidemiol Rev 29(1):29– 48.
View in Google Scholar

Musaiger AO, Al-Ahdal F. 2010. Social and dietary factors associated with obesity among women in Saudi Arabia. In: AO Musaiger, ed. Obesity in the Arab World. Bahrain: Arab Center for nutrition.
View in Google Scholar

Musaiger AO. 2011. Overweight and obesity in the Eastern Mediterranean region: prevalence and possible causes. J Obes. Article ID 407237. doi: 10.1155/2011/407237
View in Google Scholar

Oson CM, Strawderman MS, Hinton PS, Pearson TA. 2003. Gestational weight gain and postpartum behaviors associated with weight change from early pregnancy to 1 y postpartum. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 27(1):117–27.
View in Google Scholar

Ono T, Guthold R, Strong K. 2005. WHO Global Comparable Estimates. Available at: https://apps.who.int/infobase/Comparisons.aspx
View in Google Scholar

Ogden CL, Yanovski SZ, Carroll MD, Flegal KM. 2007. The epidemiology of obesity. Gastroenterology 132(6):2087–102.
View in Google Scholar

Pouliot MC, Despres JP, Lemieux S. Moorjani S, Bouchard C, Tremblay A, Nadeau A, Lupien PJ. 1994. Waist circumference and abdominal sagittal diameter: best simple anthropometric indexes of abdominal visceral adipose tissue accumulation and related cardiovascular risk in men and women. Am J Cardiol 73(7):460–68.
View in Google Scholar

Popkin BM. 2002. The shift in stages of the nutrition transition in the developing world differs from past experiences! Public Health Nutr 5(1):205–14.
View in Google Scholar

Reis JP, MacEra CA, Araneta MR, Lindsay SP, Marshall SJ, Wingard DL. 2009. Comparison of overall obesity and body fat distribution in predicting risk of mortality. Obesity (Silver Spring) 17(6):1232–39.
View in Google Scholar

Sargeant LA, Bennett FI, Forrester TE, Cooper RS, Wilks RJ. 2002. Predicting incident diabetes in Jamaica: the role of anthropometry. Obes Res 10(8):792–98.
View in Google Scholar

Veghari G, Sedaghat M, Joshaghani H, Hoseini A, Niknezhad F, Angizeh A, Tazik E, Moharloei P. 2010. The prevalence of obesity and its related risk factor in the north of Iran in 2006. J Res Health Sci 10(2):116–21.
View in Google Scholar

Wagner DR, Heyward VH. 1999. Techniques of body composition assessment: a review of laboratory and field methods. Res Q Exerc Sport 70:135v49.
View in Google Scholar

WHO/EMRO. 2009. Regional Data on non-communicable diseases. Available at: http://www.emro.who.int/ncd/
View in Google Scholar

World Health Organization. 1995. Physical status: the use and interpretation of anthropometry. Report of a WHO expert committee. 1–452.
View in Google Scholar

World Health Organization. 1997. Obesity: Preventing and managing the global epidemic.Report of a WHO consultation on Obesity. Geneva.
View in Google Scholar

World Health Organization. 2000. Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic. WHO consultation technical report series 894. Geneva.
View in Google Scholar

World Health Organization. 2012. Obesity and overweight: fact sheet N0 311.
View in Google Scholar

Zhu S, Wang Z, Heshka S, Heo M, Faith MS, Heymsfield SB. 2002. Waist circumference nd obesity-associatedrisk factors among whites in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: clinical action thresholds. Am J Clin Nutr 76(4):743–49.
View in Google Scholar