Obesity Status Of University Employees And Associated Factors: Turkey-2015

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is a growing public health concern with increasing prevalence in the world. It is aimed to investigate the relationship between socio-demographic features, dietary habits, physical activity level and body mass index (BMI) of the officers and contracted staff between the ages of 18-64 working in administrative units of a university and some factors affecting these relationships. Methods: The population of this cross-sectional study consists of officers and contracted staff working at a university campus. The data were evaluated by using SPSS 20.0 program. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test and three different binary logistic regressions were conducted in the study. Results: The mean age of the employees was 36.4 +/- 8.23 years and 67.4% of the participants were male. Half of the participants had bad dietary habits, 15.8% of the participants were physically “active” and 68.2% were overweight and obese. Being male and the importance given to health (good and above) were found to be protective factors against the bad dietary habits. Low educational level (1.88) and being married (2.32) were the risk factors for bad dietary habits. Males (2.78), married participants (1.94), participants with good and above importance given to health (1.62) and participants working as a contracted staff (2.68) were found to be physically more active. Being male (2.16), having children (2.32) and being physically active (1.78) were found to be risk factors for overweight and obesity. Conclusion: It was found that there were differences in nutrition, physical activity and obesity among university staff with different social structures. Awareness of BMI values, healthy nutrition and physical activity levels should be increased in the intervention programs aimed at changing the lifestyle of individuals working in different statuses in the society.