A public health threat in Hungary: obesity, 2013.

Eva Albók,Imre Rurik,Judit Szidor,Gabriella Iski,Tímea Ungvári,János Sándor,Csaba Móczár,Péter Torzsa,Zoltán Jancsó

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-798

Abstract

BackgroundIn Hungary, the last wide-range evaluation about nutritional status of the population was completed in 1988. Since then, only limited data were available. Our aim was to collect, analyze and present updated prevalence data.MethodsAnthropometric, educational and morbidity data of persons above 18 y were registered in all geographical regions of Hungary, at primary care encounters and within community settings.ResultsData (BMI, waist circumference, educational level) of 40,331 individuals (16,544 men, 23,787 women) were analyzed. Overall prevalence for overweight was 40.4% among men, 31.3% among women, while for obesity 32.0% and 31.5%, respectively. Abdominal obesity was 37.1% in males, 60.9% in females. Among men, the prevalence of overweight-obesity was: under 35 y = 32.5%-16.2%, between 35-60 y = 40.6%-34.7%, over 60 y = 44.3%-36.7%. Among women, in the same age categories were: 17.8%-13.8%, 29.7%-29.0%, and 36.9%-39.0%. Data were presented according to age by decades as well. The highest odds ratio of overweight (OR: 1.079; 95% CI [1.026-1.135]) was registered by middle educational level, the lowest odds ratio of obesity (OR: 0.500; 95% CI [0.463-0.539]) by the highest educational level. The highest proportion of obese people lived in villages (35.4%) and in Budapest (28.9%). Distribution of overweighed persons were: Budapest (37.1%), other cities (35.8%), villages (33.8%). Registered metabolic morbidities were strongly correlated with BMIs and both were inversely related to the level of urbanization. Over the previous decades, there has been a shift in the distribution of population toward being overweight and moreover obese, it was most prominent among males, mainly in younger generation.ConclusionsEvaluation covered 0.53% of the total population over 18 y and could be very close to the proper national representativeness. The threat of obesity and related morbidities require higher public awareness and interventions.

Highlights

In Hungary, the last wide-range evaluation about nutritional status of the population was completed in 1988
Obesity, a worldwide pandemic, is well-known for the readers who are interested in metabolic diseases with high public health impact
Main findings Comparing the data of a quarter century ago, the BMI has become higher in all age categories and the distribution of the population tended toward being overweight, obese, resulting a 2-4-fold increase in the percentage of incidence in some age groups

Summary

Introduction

In Hungary, the last wide-range evaluation about nutritional status of the population was completed in 1988. Our aim was to collect, analyze and present updated prevalence data. While obesity is mainly a medical problem, its related metabolic, cardiovascular and other diseases have serious public health and other economic or social implications. Health care services provided for obese patients are usually more expensive, mainly for the complications related to this condition. The increasing ratio of overweight and obese people is visible in all health care settings and in public places. It has been described as a world-wide trend, there are differences between and within countries and populations [1,2]. A similar trend was observed in previous Hungarian evaluations, the issue and importance of obesity were realized later than in other countries [3,4]

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