Obesity trends of adults in northern Iran (2006-2010)

Abstract

Background: The main aim of study was to determine obesity trends between 2006 to 2010 among adults aged 15-65 years in northern Iran. Material and Methods: This was a population-based cross-sectional study that enrolled 6,487 subjects chosen by multi stage cluster random sampling. Subjects were randomly chosen from 325 clusters and each cluster included 20 cases. Weight and height were measured and socio-demographic factors recorded. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Cochran’s test were used to compare the groups and statistical significance was defined as p value < 0.05. Obesity was defined by WHO classification based on Body Mass Index (BMI) criteria. Results: Generally, the prevalence of overweight and obesity were seen in 31.5% and 23.0%, respectively. It was significantly common in women more than men (31.8% vs 14.1%) (P=0.001). The mean of BMI significantly decreased 0.079 kg/m2 in men (P=0.004) and 0.059 kg/m2 in women (P=0.030) in each of years. In urban areas, obesity decreased in men aged group 15-35 year (P=0.016) and women aged 35-50 years (P=0.003), but in rural areas, obesity increased in men aged 50-65 years (P=0.003) and in women 15-35 years (P=0.025). Conclusion: Alarming rates of obesity were found in Iranian northern adults and a rising trend was shown in rural area whereas it was contrary in urban area. Associated factors leading to the obesity increase need to be identified and national action are necessary to reduce the adult obesity.

Keywords

• Obesity trends
• Iran
• adults