Anthropometric Measurements and Health Status of Obese Omani Women: A Cross-Sectional Study (Age 30-49 Years)

Abstract

Obesity has become a major health issue globally due to its increasing prevalence in certain parts of the world. In addition, because of its growing contribution to the burden of global morbidity, obesity has become one of the primary health concerns in many developed and developing countries. The WHO has warned of an escalating obesity epidemic that could put the population at risk of contracting non communicable diseases in many countries. Over the past 2 decades, Oman has been shown to bear a heavy burden of NCDs and numerous studies have documented the distribution of several risk factors coupled with lifestyle behaviors associated with many obesity related diseases giving rise to many more new health challenges in the nation. This article provides an overview of the anthropometric measurements and the health status of obese Omani women. Objective: The main purpose of this research was to study the association between anthropometric measurements and the health status of the obese Omani women. Method: The study was carried out during the period Sep 2019 to Jan 2020 and included a sample of total 398 obese Omani women aged 30-49 years from Muscat and Batina Governorates in Oman. Assessment of anthropometric measurements was done by calculating the BMI and WHR of the subjects and the health status was assessed by self-reporting of certain diseases using questionnaire cum interview method. Result: The anthropometric assessments revealed that 47% were found to be grade I obese, 32% were grade II obese and 21% were morbidly obese with grade III obesity as per the BMI. On classifying the WHR it was found that 70% were in high category, 28% in moderate category and only 2% in low category. The health status of the subjects indicated that 81% of the subjects reported to have some obesity-related morbidity like hypertension, cholesterol, diabetes etc. or the other and only 19% of the subjects were free from any disease. Conclusion: The obesity indicators i.e. BMI and WHR clearly showed a very high prevalence of obesity in the study sample. The anthropometric measurements are commonly associated with diseases like high cholesterol, hypertension and type 2 diabetes.