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Abstract

Background: World Health Organization (WHO) declared that obesity is a chronic disease prevalent in both developed and developing countries, and its impact is so diverse and extreme that it should now be regarded as one of the greatest neglected public health problems. Obesity is a risk factor for several chronic diseases, including hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases; sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, and some cancers. The current obesity epidemic has significant future implications to our health care system. The primary care providers have been urged to place significant emphasis on the diagnosis and treatment of obesity during preventive health physical examinations. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity among PHC patients and to identify factors which seem to be important in causing this. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from February 2008 to April 2008 at five primary health care centers that were selected randomly inside Doha city the capital of Qatar. 217 adult �18 years were selected systematic randomization and interviewed by a questionnaire including personal data, risk factors, chronic diseases related to obesity and their BMI and waist to hip ratio were measured. Results: The current study showed that the overall prevalence of obesity among adult Qatari is 47.9%while prevalence of overweight was 33.6%. The prevalence of overweight was higher among males compared to females (17.9% and 15.6% respectively), while the prevalence of obesity was Higher among females, compared to males (49.5% and 46% respectively). Obesity increased with age, with the highest prevalence in the age group above 48 years old, which was statistically significant (P-value0.0002). All chronic diseases were higher among obese than non obese and they were significant in diabetes (p-value0.02) and hypertension (P-value 0.037). Obesity was found to be higher among the studied group with High caloric diet, physical inactivity and family history of obesity than others and the difference were statistically significant (P-value 0.000). Conclusion: The current study concluded that obesity is highly prevalent in the community and is caused by several social and lifestyle factors. These findings suggest that the health authority in the country should establish a program to prevent and control obesity as it is one of the main factors linked with occurrence of chronic non-communicable diseases.

Biography

Mansoura Fawaz Salem Ismail is the A. Professor of Family Medicine in Clinical Medicine, at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar and Assc. Program Director of Family Medicine Department, HMC-PHCC. She received her PhD in Family Medicine from Suez Canal University in Egypt, and since then has taught and dedicated most of her time in the field of Family Medicine Residency Training Program in Egypt and Qatar. She has written at least 15 articles published in regional and international journals in the field of Family Medicine. Some of her researches including Prevalence of Nocturnal Enuresis among Qatari Students Aged 6 to 12 years – Doha, Qatar 2008; Prevalence of Obesity in Qataris Attending Primary Health Care Centers in Doha, 2008; Metabolic Syndrome Among Obese Qataris Attending Primary Health Care Centers in Doha; etc.

Email: mansoura70@hotmail.com