Abstract
Obesity due to increased body fatness has been recognized internationally as one of the leading factors affecting individual and public health. The aim of this study was to determine age-related differences in body fatness in a representative sample of women in Serbia. The study included 1937 Serbian females aged 20 to 69.9 years from all regions of the Republic of Serbia. The obesity and body fatness were analyzed using body mass index (BMI), body fat mass (BFM), percent of body fat (PBF), body fat mass index (BFMI), and visceral fat area (VFA). Multivariate analysis of variance with post hoc pairwise comparisons revealed the largest differences between the age categories in VFA followed by BFMI, PBF, and BMI. The prevalence of overweight, obese, and extremely obese subjects in the overall sample by BMI was 30.77, 1.32, and 1.40%, respectively. The prevalence was higher when calculated by PBF, with 37.84 and 20.11% for overweight and obese subjects. The prevalence of overweight and obesity, as calculated by BMI and PBF, was higher in older age groups of Serbian women. The prevalence of overweight women in the oldest group was 4.32 times higher, while the rate of obesity was 8.67 times higher than in the youngest group. Our results are a good basis for planning and implementing preventive health activities and monitoring changes in morphological parameters in Serbian women of different ages.
Highlights
It is well known that deviation from normal body weight and excessive body fat content are associated with the most common chronic non-communicable diseases [1,2,3]
The highest effect could be observed in visceral fat area (VFA) followed by body fat mass index (BFMI), percent of body fat (PBF), and body mass index (BMI)
Results showed that the greatest influence of an individual variable on the difference between groups was found in the variable VFA (49.4%), BFMI (25.0%), PBF, and BMI (23.8 and 22.1%, respectively)
Summary
It is well known that deviation from normal body weight and excessive body fat content are associated with the most common chronic non-communicable diseases [1,2,3]. These diseases represent the biggest public health problem in developed and developing countries [4,5,6,7,8]. For the Greece student population, results showed that 48.6% of them had increased central fat adiposity. The Greece results suggest that central body fat distribution in young women may reflect increased risk due to high visceral fat area (VFA) and intra-abdominal fat levels [9]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
