Prevalence and Predictors of Obesity and Overweight Among Adults Visiting Primary Care Settings in the Southwestern Region, Saudi Arabia

Introduction: Obesity is becoming the most common health problem of the 21st century, as it will contribute significantly to the high prevalence of cardiovascular disease in developing countries. The main objective of our study was to estimate the prevalence of obesity and overweight among adults attending primary health care settings, southwestern region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Methods: The studied population was composed of adults visiting primary health care centres in the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was carried out on a representative sample of 1681 adult patients. Obesity and overweight were defined according to the WHO standards. Statistical analysis was conducted using the statistical package SPSS 17.0. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent predictors of obesity and overweight in the studied population.

Results: Data on body mass index (BMI) measurement was recorded for 1649 out of 1681 participants (98.1%). The overall mean weight was 74.1 ± 15.81 kg; and that for men was 77.69 ± 16.14 kg vs. 69.37 ± 14.02 kg for women with significant statistical difference of p < 0.001. The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was, respectively, 38.3% and 27.6%. Smoking was not significantly associated with obesity, whereas hypertension was significantly associated with obesity. The risk of overweight or obesity significantly increased from the highest to the lowest monthly income; it passed from 1.67 CI 95% = [1.24-2.25] within the category 5000-7000 SAR to 2.23 CI 95% = [1.71-2.90] within the category less than 5000 SAR.

Conclusion: Our study showed high prevalence of overweight and obesity which should be considered as a public health concern to be followed by specific interventions at the community level with multidisciplinary activities starting from childhood as a primordial prevention program.