Prevalence of overweight, obesity and abdominal obesity in Health Sciences Faculty students

Abstract

Objectives: This study was carried out in order to determine the prevalence of obesity among the students of the Faculty of Health Sciences and to evaluate the anthropometric measurements of the students.

Materials and methods: The population of the study was in total 984 volunteering undergraduate students from Ankara University Faculty of Health Sciences, Child Development, Midwifery, Nursing, Health Management and Social Work departments. The sociodemographic characteristics of the students were obtained with the help of the questionnaire and the anthropometric measurements by the researchers. SPSS package program was used for descriptive statistics, chi-square test and multiple logistic regression analysis for assessment of data.

Results: 16.5% of the students participating in the study were overweight and 4.5% were obese. Approximately half of the students who are overweight and obese reported staying in the dormitory. Average BMI value in males is 23.1 kg/m² and 22.3 kg/m² in females. 29.1% of females are at risk in terms of abdominal obesity and 30.6% of males in terms of waist/height ratio. Male gender and presence of an obese person in the family increases the risk of being overweight or obese.

Conclusions: Risky health behaviors are observed among university students and in order to avoid such behaviors, it is necessary to provide training especially on subjects such as nutrition and physical activity. Adopting the right nutritional habits and healthy lifestyle is important in individuals who will be the future healthcare professionals, for both their and future generations' health.

Keywords: Abdominal obesity; Obesity; Overweight; University students.