Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity, and Its Associated Factors Among Health-care Workers, Teachers, and Bankers in Arusha City, Tanzania.

BACKGROUND

Tanzania is one of the developing countries experiencing an increasing trend of overweight and obesity among adults. Working adults have been identified as a high-risk group more exposed to the predictors of overweight and obesity than the general population. However, limited studies have been done in this group. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of overweight and obesity and its associated risk factors among health-care workers, teachers, and bankers in Arusha city council.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among health-care workers, teachers, and bankers. A total of 305 working adults aged 18-60 years participated in the study. A modified World Health Organization (WHO) STEPwise approach for chronic disease risk factor surveillance was used to collect data about socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle behaviors, dietary practices and anthropometric measurement. The Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) was used to collect information about level of physical activities. The anthropometric measurement and level of physical activities were calculated and ranked according to WHO guidelines.

RESULTS

Overall, 68.9% (31.1% overweight and 37.8% obese) of working adults were overweight or obese. Age (adjusted odds ratio [AOR=7.73; 95% CI: 1.93-30.87]), gender (AOR=2.60; 95% CI: 1.30-5.21), marital status (AOR=2.47; 95% CI: 1.11-5.50), years spent with the current institution (AOR=4.59; 95% CI: 1.38-17.80), using private car or public transport to and from work (AOR=2.43; 95% CI: 1.10-5.39) and sedentary work (AOR=2.43; 95% CI: 1.04-5.71), were significant factors associated with overweight or obesity.

CONCLUSION

The study identified a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity in Tanzania compared with previous studies. The results from this study are useful for the education sector, financial institutions and health sector on designing workplace wellness programs to reduce the burden of overweight and obesity among this working category.