Weight change and associated factors in Atatürk University Faculty of Medicine employees

Abstract

Introduction: Overweight and obesity is a major public healthproblem in Turkey like all over the world. It is estimated that 37% of adultsis overweight, and 32% of adults is obese in Turkey. There are many factorsthat affect weight change. We aimed to investigate the factors that can affectweight change in cohort of a university hospital employees.Methods: 229 employees who work at Ataturk University Facultyof Medicine were enrolled to study between April-2015 and January-2016.Subjects' socio-demographic data, sleep and eating patterns, and physicalactivity levels and 24-hour food consumption information and anthropometricmeasurements were taken three times (0, 3, 6 months) for 6 months.Results: The mean age of participants was 31.6±9.6 years. 52%of the participants were married, 55.5% were university graduates and 16.6%were doctors. 10.9% of participants were obese, 28.8% of them were overweightand 51.5% of participants remained in the same weight. The average 0.2±2 kg wasgained, and BMI increased from 24.3 kg/m² to 24.5 kg/m² and total body fatpercentage increased from 23.1% to 23.6%. It was observed that 15.3% ofconsumed daily calories was protein, 41.3% was lipid and 43.5% wascarbohydrates of individuals who lose weight. Participants who gained weightconsumed more three food items more than participants who lost weight(p lt;0.05). It was observed that individuals who have regularly physicalexercise lost weight a mean of 0.3 kg, and waist circumference was reduced amean of 2.3 cm. At the end of the 6 month follow-up period, individuals withnormal weight received an average of 0,4±1,8 kg; while obese individuals lost0.2±1.8 kg (p­­­=0,09). The average sleep duration was higher for those wholost weight on six-month follow-up than for the subjects who gained weight(8±1.9 hours and 7.2±1.9 hours, respectively; p lt;0.05).Conclusion: There was a relationship between sleep duration andnutrient intake with weight change in this study. However, there was norelationship between gender, marital status, smoking status, eating habit,physical activity status, sporting status, daily calorie intake, calorieintake, and weight change in 6 month follow-up. Further long-term trials shouldbe based upon factors that may affect weight loss and weight gain.

Keywords

• obezite
• beslenme
• kilo değişimi
• üniversite çalışanı
• obesity
• weight change
• nutrition
• university employees