Abdominal obesity in adults: prevalence and related factors

Obesity is one of the most important health problems; it has an increasing prevalence in Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean and Iran. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of abdominal obesity and its relationship with individual, social, and economic characteristics and physical activity in adults in Gonabad in 2019. This cross-sectional study included 250 individuals aged 18-70 years living in Gonabad, Iran. Participants were selected by a multi-stage sampling method; they are randomly selected from areas sheltered by community health centers in zones 1, 2 and 3. Socioeconomic characteristics were determined using the Garmaroudi and Moradi questionnaire. Physical activity was measured by the Baecke Physical Activity Questionnaire. Anthropometric indices including waist circumference, hip circumference, height and weight were measured by the researchers. Multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between waist circumference and other factors at a significance level of less than 0.05. Participants' ages range from 13.16 +/- 36.40 years, of whom 44.8% were male, 82.4% were married and 60% were employed. There were statistically significant relationships between waist circumference with age, sex, occupation, income, socioeconomic status, BMI and physical activity indices (p<0.05). Waist circumference was directly related to quantitative variables of age, income, socioeconomic status, BMI and leisure-time physical activity; however, it was inversely correlated with physical activity index and physical activity index. Moreover, waist circumference was greater in men than in women and it was lower in the employed than in the unemployed participants. Individual and socioeconomic characteristics and physical activity are among the influential factors affecting the abdominal obesity in adults.